Wherever the ocean meets the shore, there is a transfer of energy. It presents itself to us in the form of sound and the physical heaving of sand and water which also yields a conversion of kinetic energy to tiny amounts of heat as each wave crashes.
There is another energy present at the shoreline that is not as easy to explain, though we are all familiar with it. It has a vital quality and we are quite literally revitalised by it. It may come from perspective. Pondering the sand flowing through your fingers, and the millions of years
it took to make it, helps you understand your place in the Universe. It may be therapeutic. Fresh sea air, a closeness to nature, the sound of the surf breaking. You’re alive!
Ellen Mary Taylor captures the healing energy of the place where the ocean meets the shore. With a delicate colour shift, a subtle haze and her eye for composition, Ellen’s photographs are almost dream-like, with their own soul-soothing qualities. In 2017 Ellen travelled through Indonesia to Portugal and France and later ventured to Uruguay and the Maldives, all the while documenting the serene beauty of surfing, diving and playing in and around the ocean.
PALACE OF THE BRINE
THE SERENE BEAUTY OF THE OCEAN THROUGH THE EYES (AND LENS) OF ELLEN MARY TAYLOR
A commercial photographer based in Gisborne, Ellen specialises in lifestyle photography. She’s an in-demand wedding photographer and videographer who clearly forms a comfortable connection with her clients as her online ‘folio demonstrates beautifully. Her full dance card reflects well on the quality of her work and her rapport with clients. While her schedule is hectic, the ocean is always close by for a little soul-therapy and renewed energy.
“I’m happiest and most at peace when I’m near the sea. It’s a place where I find clarity and I’m constantly inspired to create.”
IS THIS THE WAY?
Tethered to the Earth, as we are, one can’t help but wonder what future generations might use for transportation once galactic travel is a thing.
Obviously the technology required to explore our galaxy already exists. It’s all showcased in detail in documentaries such as A New Hope, The Phantom Menace and The Mandalorian, to name just a few.
The problem is, there is still so much money to be made selling Range Rovers and Volkswagen Golfs that all that interstellar tech is being held back, stored away in vaults til the time is right to unleash it on the general public.
In a recent documentary titled The Book of Boba Fett we get a ‘fly on the wall’ experience as an honest, hard-working bounty hunter takes ownership of a second-hand, single-seater craft after his previous ride suffers extensive damage, rendering it an insurance write-off. He buys an N-1 Starfighter.
The N-1 is a coveted classic and the documentary takes us through the rebuild project as this example is a bit of a ‘barn find’. It’s always good television when a vintage vehicle is restored to its former glory and this is no exception.
The N-1 Starfighter is special in that they were commissioned by the Queen of Naboo and hand-built by the Royal Guard, so definitely worth restoring. In true hot rodding style the rebuild includes some serious speed modifications. Adding an induction intake charger and reinforcing the compression housing, plus the addition of a rare Venturi Turbonic Power Assimilator (found at a Jawa swap meet) means this example will now leave an X-Wing for dust.
While it’s fast, manoeuvrable and well-armed, the N-1 is not that practical, with almost no luggage space and only one seat (plus a pod for a service droid). However, there is no denying, this thing has presence. Not some over-restored trailer queen which you can’t even take out in the rain. This baby is built to be driven. Or flown. New owner Din Djarin sums it up nicely; “What’s important is the preservation of these classics for future generations. This N-1 gets a lot of punishment but they were so well built back in the day. They just don’t make ‘em like they used to.”
– Al Best
Watch the full suite of Star Wars/Mandalorian awesomeness on Disney Plus and learn more about stuff going on in other galaxies.
Letter of the year so far
Published in Submachine Magazine Volume Three
Dear Editor,
I think Volume 3 might be the best one yet. Well done. I’ve read it cover to cover and was thrilled to get to this page and read my own letter. Freaky!
Your reader’s minds will be blown as they try to figure out how this is possible, and their first instinct will probably be to discredit you and label you a charlatan. I don’t want that, so I will try to explain.
One of the benefits of working in the space industry is connecting with the greatest minds in the scientific community. Our NASA contracts mean we get invited to their Christmas parties and those guys really know how to push the boat out.
At the last one I was hanging with a bunch of theoretical astrophysicists when a fight nearly broke out. We were trying to avoid having to talk to the flight-dynamics guys ‘cos, well, they’re pretty boring, but eventually they came over and started calling us nerds. Long story short, there were some unpleasantries and a bit of jostling but it wasn’t until the mission control guys joined in that things went rapidly south. They really knew how to push our buttons.
It seemed like the whole party had it in for the physicists and, by association, me. It was time to get the hell out so we fled down a long corridor to the office where they did most of their theorising. We locked ourselves in and listened as a mob of drunk, angry engineers gathered outside the door.
“Fuck this” said Shinya, one of the senior physicists, and he made his way to a cupboard against the back wall. He opened it and beckoned us over. Everybody filed across the room and, one by one, got into the cupboard.
I was last in, yet when I entered, I was alone. I looked for a false back or secret panel but could not find one so I pushed the cupboard doors open and returned to the room. As I did, a dozen theoretical astrophysicists followed me out of the cupboard and back into the office we had just left.
I won’t try to explain the science behind it, but basically these chaps had, in their spare time, developed a working portal into the spacetime continuum. Since sometime in mid-July they had been popping in and out of this cupboard and mucking around with time-travel like it was nothing more than a bit of a lark which, for them, it was.
We re-entered the Christmas party about two hours before we had left it and spiked the punchbowl with LSD, meaning we would no longer be dealing with the bullies from mission control or those tiresome flight dynamics officers, mainly ‘cos most of them ended up out on the lawn, falling about like a bunch of twats, laughing and staring in fascination at the sky, as if they’d just realised the magnitude of what they actually did for a living.
I’d been toying with time machines for a few years so I was super impressed that they had managed to get theirs to work. Mine had vaporised a few employees, which meant loads of paperwork, so I had kind of parked it. I focussed on my other projects, made an absolute shit-tonne of money and was wondering what there was left to achieve.
A few weeks ago I had a routine meeting with the NASA execs and when it was over I snuck down to pop in on my physicist mates. A few of them looked a lot older and one in particular appeared to be in his 90s, despite being mid-30s when I saw him at Christmas.
It seems that time-travel is not without its drawbacks. Short trips across small time frames were OK but if you want to go back 80 years and murder Hitler you’ll find you’d be too old to pull the trigger and if you wanted to return to now, well, just forget about it.
Anyway, I thought I would just travel forward a bit and check out Submachine and a few other things, mostly sharemarkets. That’s how I was able to read this magazine before it had even gone to print, and hence I could give you my feedback. It’s great! I grabbed
Volume 4 as well, and loved that too. I realise that you haven’t even started that one yet but I can assure you, you end up doing a good job.
- E. Musk, Austin, Texas
