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This summer, my photographer brother, Michael and I have been visiting our beautiful local beaches here on Vancouver Island to capture some of the incredible formations along the shore. In July, we decided to take the ferry from Nanaimo (not far from our new home) to Gabriola Island, one of the Southern Gulf Islands known for its spectacular natural features, one of which is called the Malaspina Galleries by Gabriolans. It is a massive, 100 m-long barrel wave formation created by the erosion of sandstone by salt. And because the wave is almost 4 m tall, we were able to walk beneath it and marvel at the intricate tide pools and patterns at our feet. After our first visit, we knew we would have to return, but we wanted to wait for better conditions to photograph this striking landscape.

So, in August, we decided to visit Gabriola again at low tide, but this time much earlier in the morning to avoid all the curious tourists and to catch the less intense midsummer light on that overcast day. We also wanted to explore another part of the island and headed to Drumbeg Provincial Park, where sandstone shelf rock encloses a small sand and pebble beach.

As I meandered near the water, otherworldly compositions and giant stone “warts” appeared at my feet. Along the rocky ledge were prehistoric scenes like the one you see in my image, which resembled the curving flow of lava frozen in time embellished with these unusual clusters of pockmarked stone.