Lake Superior beaches consist of an amazing array of colorful stones, all tossed and turned and ground fine by friction with one another in the unending surf. This chaos of color is what makes Lake Superior beachcombing so much fun - you never know when an agate or some other beautiful stone will be tossed ashore by a recent storm. The thrill is in the hunt, and most Midwestern families I've known have spent countless hours on the beach, filling pockets and pails with colorful treasures to take home. Unfortunately, when dry, the stones lose their finely polished magic. That's why, when I collect stones, I photograph them right on the beach where I can moisten them as necessary.

Some of my beach stone pictures show the chaos of nature. In others, I have chosen to arrange the stones into compositions quite different from what I first saw. In this photograph I loved the delicate green and pink tones of certain stones, but found that I needed a more uniform color to serve as a more neutral contrast. I chose the dark basalt stones for this purpose. When wet, the neutral gray/black of basalt reflects its surroundings like a mirror; in this photograph it is reflecting the blue color of the sky.

And what are the green stones? They are igneous (volcanic) in origin; beyond that I will leave identification to the geologists among us.

Lee Rentz

lee@leerentz.com