Beaches

The Humboldt County coastline is not what most people picture when they think of a California beach. There are no palm trees, no boardwalks, no crowds. What you get instead is something wilder and more honest — sea stacks rising out of cold Pacific surf, fog rolling in off the water at dusk, cliffs covered in wildflowers, and light that changes by the minute in ways that will keep you standing there long past when you planned to leave. I've photographed this coastline in every season and in every kind of weather, from calm golden-hour evenings at Trinidad State Beach to raw winter storms rolling in off the ocean. The images in this collection come from places like Moonstone Beach, Luffenholtz, Camel Rock, and Pewetole Island — spots I keep coming back to because they never look quite the same twice. This is Northern California's best-kept secret, and these are some of my favorite images I've ever made.