Stars and Surf

Southern California, 1977.

There's nothing like the Pacific at night (or anytime). The edge of the ocean is some kind of ultimate interface. Half the planet relentlessly washing ashore at your feet, night and day, eon after eon, it never stops.

For this picture I set my camera on a tripod on a bluff overlooking the ocean, and took probably a 30-second exposure. Thirty seconds was about the longest exposure I could use before the stars started to trail, and I was aiming for the realistic "points of light" effect.

Looking at this photo, I can almost smell the salt air and hear the pounding of the surf.