The color blue has always resonated with me. When I was a little kid, a favorite question was “what is your favorite color?” It has always been Blue. Not a particular shade, just “blue.” As a photographer that spends the majority of the time in and around water, many of my images have blue as the dominate color. Is this coincidence? Is there an attraction to the ocean because of its color? I’m not really sure how to answer this. But ponder it, I do.

Some studies show that the human eye can perceive between 340 and 500 shades of blue. How crazy is that? Those of us lucky enough to live by the ocean can see multiple shades of blue on any given day and at any given moment.  When the sun is low or clouds are in the sky, the surface of the ocean can turn a deep blue or even black. Moody. Foreboding. When the sun is directly overhead, the water can turn to incredible shades of turquois. Who wouldn’t be happy seeing that? Take the image below as an example and see what you feel. Did you relax?

There is a color visualization system know as tetrachromacy. This is where one has four distinct color perception channels (think cones) rather than three in the eyes. It’s pretty rare and even more rare among men. But if you are lucky enough to have it, it may allow you to see more detail or variety within the visible spectrum. More specifically, while the ordinary person sees about 1 million colors, a tetrachromat may be able to see 100 million colors. I, for one, have never been tested for tetrachromacy, but I absolutely love the color spectrum – the more vivid, the more alive I feel!

I recently received a cool email from a viewer who lives in Montana. He was complimenting an image I made called “Big Blue” (see post from August 9, 2022) and shared his love of blue: “I painted my office at work three different shades of blue that mean three different things.  One is a dark military blue to honor all those that have served, or are serving in any branch, including state or civil-police, firefighters, EMS etc.  One is ocean blue and the third represents the sky.” Oh how I related to and appreciate this! The color blue means so much to so many people! What does it mean to you?