San Diego County is home to some of California’s most iconic ocean piers—each with its own personality, history, and coastal charm. These piers aren’t just for fishing or strolling; they offer front-row seats to the Pacific and a glimpse into Southern California lifestyle.
Shooting in the water is at times super frustrating, but the rewards can be so worth the effort. I get a lot of questions on how this image came about so I invite you to click below to read the story behind this image.
Okay, this one kind of snuck up on me. I can’t say National Bird Day was on my radar, but hey, go with the flow, right? So what do I have in the way of birds?
Sunday marked another Paddle for Clean Water at OB; another community effort by Surfrider Foundation; another year in the long line of continual years of seeking a solution to the problems affecting our coastline…
Marking the coast of San Diego County are a series of piers stretching out into the ocean past the surf line. Some of these were built in the late 1800s to support coastal trade. More were added in the early 1900’s as pleasure piers. Today, they stand silently in the depths, willing couples to stroll, fishermen to cast and surfer’s to shoot.
Standing still and silent, the Coronado Bridge traverses the bay in a graceful curve, carrying workers and visitors back and forth to downtown. It is relatively new (1969), but an icon that represents San Diego as much as Balboa Park.
Remember those trips to the beach when you were just a little kid? You would walk along the shoreline with your little green bucket swinging from your hand as you scanned the sand for a beautiful shell to add to your sandy collection. Maybe it was a whole sand dollar, or perhaps a jewel toned shard of shell. Everything was a treasure. You would bring them home, hose them off, and line them up on the warm bricks to dry. What is is about collecting seashells that is timeless?
I posted before about my fascination with our Brown Pelicans and got so many great comments and questions, I thought I would share the story behind this image I call “The Dive.”
There is a patch of old So Cal coast where time is forgotten and development was left behind. It is raw; it is natural; it is called the Tijuana Sloughs. It also happens to be a great place to spend a day with your camera.
What an amazing run of swell we have enjoyed here in Southern California. Pundits call it a once in 50 years kind of swell. I call it “busy time.” As a surf photographer, the opportunities have been broad and the toughest part has been choosing where to shoot every morning.
Readers, I am thrilled to share that I have been asked to do a solo photography exhibition on Nov 11. It will be held at the Emerald C Gallery in Coronado and I hope you can all attend. So what have I decided to show? I will share some previews here:
Photographers in San Diego know that a wonderful secret exists in the southern reaches of the San Diego Bay. With the ocean on your west, there is only a thin strip of road called “The Strand” that separates the ocean from the wetlands, which host an amazing assortment of water birds, from skimmers to osprey. There is one particular feathered friend that dazzles and surprises. Yes, we play host to a wild flamingo. He is a brilliant shade of pink with a wingspan of nearly five feet and has made himself at home in the expansive shallows between the Cays and Imperial Beach. The locals have given him several names, but Pink Floyd, or simply “Floyd” seems to have stuck.