Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica Beach stretches for miles along the Pacific Coast, offering a classic California beach scene with the iconic pier, colorful lifeguard towers, and the Santa Monica Mountains as a distant backdrop. The lifeguard towers make excellent foreground subjects, especially when you shoot low and wide to emphasize their bold geometric shapes against the sky. The pier works well as a leading line from the beach looking northwest, and at low tide the wet sand reflects the sky beautifully for longer exposures. Sunset is the prime time to shoot here, with the sun dropping directly into the Pacific and painting the sky in deep oranges and pinks; golden hour comes early in winter and later in summer, so plan accordingly. A wide angle lens handles the expansive scenes well, while a mid-range zoom lets you isolate the towers or compress the pier. Parking is available along Ocean Avenue and in the pier lot. (Santa Monica, California, United States)
