It is a different sort of tide line that presents itself at Joggins Fossil Cliffs, and other pebble beaches. Where I usually look for compositions that prominently include marine life (plant and/or animal) on a sand background, pebble beaches do not offer this sort of tableau. Instead, a pebble-beach tide line is a puzzle of shapes and textures that almost require a refocusing of one’s eye and thoughts before focusing a camera lens.

Joggins is an evolving, shifting beach because of the constant erosion of the cliffs, coupled with dramatic high tides. The result is a beach (and tideline) that is littered with new-fallen shale, as well as with stones and pebbles that are well eroded. New fossils are revealed with every new cliff-fall, and can easily be found in many of the eroded stones.

This still life does not have any fossils that I can see, but the textures and colors in the shale and stones create a pleasing and somewhat dynamic photograph. I notice new things about it every time I look at it.