I was there too
Santa Monica Pier stretches out into the sea, but halfway out is a funfair including a roller coaster and ferris wheel, of all things. On a sunny day it’s a sight to behold. The place is thronged with people too!
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Cows on the rocks near the sea on Sheep’s Head. Looks like one of them is enjoying the view of the water. Nice day for fishing ain’t it!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 57mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/320s |
The waves roll in on the beach at Ventura Beach while the pier extends out into the sea. The pier was damaged in storms and closed in early 2023, but still made for a great subject at sunset.
I have so many photos of this pier from that night. I’ll be posting photos of it again over the next year or two.
| Aperture | ƒ/11 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 41mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/6s |
A wooden fence lies forgotten in the sands of the beach in Santa Monica. Lifeguard Tower 15 stands in the background of this photo, just beyond all the food carts.
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Santa Monica Pier is hard to miss, but if you didn’t know where Muscle Beach or North Beach were, here’s a sign to help you.
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 27mm |
| ISO | 320 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
It’s thirsty work playing on a beach when you’re a dog. You need water to quench your thirst after chasing a ball all afternoon.
There weren’t too many dogs at the beach, but I was surprised to see them. This was also the only place on our trip to the US that we saw dog excrement on the ground, nestled in the sand at the shoreline. It’s great to play or walk with your dog on a beach, but there’s a responsibility to clean up after them too.
Beautiful beach too, looking out on the Pacific, an oil platform and Anacapa Island in the distance.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 75mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/800s |
As the sun sets, one thing I like to do is intentionally moving the camera lens, so the resulting picture is more abstract, but still captures the colours and shadows of the sunset.
This is what I did in Youghal a few months ago with Blarney Photography Club. Standing in the water, I swung the lens horizontally. The sun had almost set, so it caused a streak at the horizon and the groynes in the water looked like shadowy transparent obstructions.
| Aperture | ƒ/4.5 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 44mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 2s |
It’s good to see a warning for motorists who park on Inch Beach in Co. Kerry. High tide was at 5:15pm yesterday, and motorists were urged to remove their vehicles “in GOOD TIME”.
We parked in the car park and left at 5:42pm, but there were still a few hardy souls on the beach with their cars. Including one German registered Land Rover Defender that was parked right next to the “No cars beyond this point”. I guess they wanted to use their spotless, clean vehicle in “extreme terrain” like a “sandy beach” just once before going back to the urban jungle.
Luckily, high tide isn’t high enough to submerge vehicles.
| Aperture | ƒ/4.9 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 27.2mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
On a lovely evening in August last year I was walking along a beach with my wife. The sun was getting low in the sky casting a faintly yellow glow over the world.
This long exposure shot captures the movement of cloud, and the wind blown grass. Even though there wasn’t much wind, it’s all relative when the photo is 13 seconds long.
Psst. Don’t tell anyone, but there’s a really nice beach around the corner from Wine Strand!
| Aperture | ƒ/13 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 37mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 13s |
