How do I use the map?

Click on a location in the left sidebar to see a popup for that sample. If you click on a sand photo, you can see larger photos. Click the arrows to navigate through the photo slideshows. The tabs across the top of each popup offer additional information about the location and a scale reference.

What technique do you use to photograph the sand?

So far, the best setup is my kitchen table in bright, ambient natural light. Usually about 20 photos — it takes me awhile to find the most unique qualities of each sample.

Why don’t you have more sand?

That’s a good question. It’s probably time for a vacation.

What camera do you use?

I’m using my 4-megapixel Olympus C-4000 Zoom.

Now that your laughter has subsided, let me tell you the story behind this camera. I bought it before a trip to Hawai’i in October 2003. I unboxed it on Barber’s Point Beach on my first day. Those photos on the map are the first ones I took with this camera, so it seemed natural to use it for the project. I have a couple of tiny grains permanently stuck in the lens mechanism from that trip, but it’s really rugged and it has survived some hard drops, including a smack onto the concrete in the middle of a crowd at Sam’s Town.

Can I send you some sand?

If you have some really great sand that you think should be on the map, please get in touch. I prefer sand from sources that people have direct access to (your home, your weekend drive, etc.), rather than asking people to part with sand from their collections. I know how hard that is to do…like giving up a little bit of yourself.

You asked me for some sand. How do I send it to you?

I don’t need a lot – just enough to fill a film canister, old pill bottle or something similar. If you have a GPS unit and can send me the coordinates from where you get the sand, great; if not, write the name of the beach on the sample and make sure it doesn’t spill in the mail. If you are able to take a good photo of the area or nearby things that reflect the essence of the location, I’d be happy to include it and credit you.

Did you ever take a trip just to get sand?

Sortof, yes. But I don’t believe in being goal oriented. Life is about taking time to smell the roses and feeling the sand between your toes. My collection grows organically without timelines or expectations — beautiful surprises arise by living in the moment.

Aren’t you afraid of Pele’s wrath?

Pele is always a force to be reckoned with, but I believe I have honored her.

How is this site built?

The mashup integrates the Slimbox API and the Google Maps API. The blog is powered by WordPress.

What’s your favorite sand?

My favorite sand is that on the beach outside the door of my hotel.

What’s your baseline for white?

Nudey Beach Fontainebleau. It’s like bright-white office paper. Stunning.

Finally launched a project blog. I know…*that* sure seemed to take a long time. I guess I just didn’t really have much of anything to say. But then I started thinking that might change. Probably could have done more with the theme, but hey, it is what it is.

So here’s some background.

I’ve always liked dirt. I was one of those kids who played with bugs, searched for fossils, buried things in the backyard, collected rocks, and panned for gold. I’m not a geologist, but I am a bit of a science geek who has an unhealthy relationship with sand. I suppose that’s what happens when a Florida baby is plucked from beach bliss and carried off to a geologically-fascinating, but landlocked state.

Like many people, I collect souvenir sand from my vacations. My first treasure came from Carmel during a business conference in 1997. It was my first visit back to the Pacific coast in about a decade and I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the beach. It was irresistible, so I scooped up a little in a water bottle and brought it back home.

Soon thereafter, work began to take over and my vacations became fewer and farther between. I started hitting my friends and family up for sand.

I decanted their sand into pretty glass bottles and the collection began to grow. For years, I never really thought much about it. Until last fall. After a particularly busy year on a demanding project, I found myself needing some downtime. I’m crazy about geolocation and have worked with the Google Maps API for a couple of years, so I decided to combine that interest with my love of photography.

Bringing this project to life has been challenging. Early on, I ran into a technical hurdle trying to integrate the photos with the map (which I wrote about here), and fussed with a couple of scripts to get the GMap API key to work across multiple domains (that was fun, but never got around to sharing my solution.)

I was a bit unprepared for how long it would take to photograph sand, and the hours of research needed to determine where, exactly, some of my samples are actually from: it seems that my family and friends are usually more interested in having a good time on their vacations than writing down details (don’t be surprised if I send you off with baggies and a GPS unit on your next trip.)

Categorizing the sand colors was surprisingly agonizing. Should I go with tan, dark tan, taupe, wheat, brown-grey, fallow, ecru, bistre, light brown, grey, buff, beige, linen, eggshell, white, ivory, yellow, maize, saffron, peach, pink, seashell, clear, green, olive, orange-red, brick red, rust? I did my best…but if something gives you heartache, let me know. Just don’t ask me to use gray.

Over the past months, I had to sideline things a couple of times to accommodate client work — thanks for being so wonderful when timelines seemed to drift a little. I’m also grateful to my husband for encouraging me to indulge in a pet project in the first place. And of course, to everyone who has contributed sand.

Initially, I thought this would be just a little side project, but it’s become somewhat of an obsession. I plan to add new samples regularly as I obtain them.

The result is Sandrific. It’s for people who love sand.

I hope you enjoy it.