The Wonderful World of Santa Barbara - "The Pier"

When I first visited Santa Barbara, the pier was one of the first places I went. However, I've only gone back a few times since I've moved here (and the times I've gone have been to take people visiting from out of town). It's a bit touristy... but there are some decent restaurants (recommend the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company) and it's a beautiful place to hang out and watch the sunset. These are a few photos I took from a somewhat recent walk.

The Wonderful World of Santa Barbara - Sunset Over the Mesa

Relaxing on the Santa Barbara pier as the sun dips over the Mesa.

Low Tide Sunset - HB

This photo is best viewed at a larger size (suggest clicking on it directly). Low tide sunset at Huntington Beach.

Golden Hour - HB Pier

I've posted several images already of the HB pier... so I assume that it's getting a bit redundant. Therefore, I promise that this will be the last one. I'm going to refer to this image as "Golden Hour". Right as the sun is about to dip below the horizon, the entire sky will glow a golden color. This actually can be slightly enhanced in California because of the smog/haze. The light reflects off of the smog and increases the glowing effect.

Pier Reflections

I'm always glad when a sunset takes place at low tide. It makes any image you take much more interesting because you get really cool reflections from the wet sand. This particular image was taken at Huntington Beach Pier towards the end of the day. The surf was quite good this afternoon... so I almost didn't come out of the water in time to gather my camera. However, the spot I was surfing worked better on high tide and was starting to shut down. Anyways, I thought these were pretty rad images.

Under the Pier

When I lived in Newport Beach, I used to surf next to the Huntington Beach pier about 3-5 times per week (one of the best & most consistent surf spots in Orange County!)... and never really had that much appreciation for it. However, after being away from it for 3+ years, I've learned to appreciate its uniqueness again. Here I am standing under the pier at sunset. What you don't see are the 30 other photographers with Digital SLR cameras and tripods surrounding me.

HB - Lifeguard Towers

Every county in Southern California has their own unique lifeguard towers. Therefore, when you see an image of a lifeguard tower in an advertisement or movie, you can usually tell what beach it's being filmed at ("The OC" never actually filmed any of the beach scenes in Orange County). These particular images were taken at Huntington Beach (in Orange County) right as the sun was about to go down.