Each week on social media you’ll see South Bay images taken from Manhattan Beach Pier down to the Cabrillo Breakwater. Many are of spots we all recognized, some are just great photos of places we routinely overlook. A location like Manhattan Beach Pier is practically a genre unto itself.

Manhattan Beach Pier

The Pier at sunset. It’s a gathering point, a South Bay ritual -- standing out on the pier and watching the sun say goodnight. For the photog, the spot has added appeal because the pier’s architecture leads the eye westward, into the evening glow.

Last Wave, from 2015, has a particular feeling for me. I showed up that night in the final moments of the light show. I quickly tried to take it all in, to capture it’s essence. Above, everyone seems to lean out over the pier’s railing, pulled in by the magic. … On the other side of me, the ocean, the tide coming in. And one of the surfers went by me, heading out for a final ride … then he looked west and got lost in it all. The whole thing played out by chance, almost like street photography.

Another take on the Pier. Under the pier is a different experience, dominated by the columns reaching out into the ocean. Behind (and between) the columns that night were the sunset clouds in layers. And as a longtime fan of sacred Eastern art, I saw the horizontal and vertical lines as a centering point, a mandala.

Golden Cove

Further down the coast, west of the Golden Cove strip mall, is one of the tidal pool areas I visit. It’s a pain to get to, down a tricky dirt path. Generally tidal pools are popular with landscape photographers, and have been at least since Edward Weston’s image of Point Lobos. But this part of the coast gets fishermen instead of photogs.

You won’t find Aphrodite’s Bath in any maps of PV, it’s what I call this perfectly shaped tidal pool. I saw it first from the cliffs about 4 years ago. The pool is particularly intriguing if you’re shooting when the waves are just beginning to breach that pool. With this image, I set the shutter speed to 3.5 seconds to smooth out the frothy pool into a mirrored perfection.

Tidal pool photographs are almost impossible to replicate. The quality of the light, the tide level, shutter speed, post prod choices, you’ll take 50 shots and get 50 different results – even with the tripod in the same spot. This image, taken a few weeks ago, had an entirely different quality than the other 49.

One of my friends commented on the “gossamer opalescence” in this image esp in the rushing waves … a texturing that can happen in a longer exposure. That same 1.3 sec. exposure allows the Aphrodite’s Bath pool to feel quiet, settled enough to reveal what’s below. It’s basic physics — and one of those lucky moments you can get when shooting.

A Sacred Cave

Live in the South Bay long enough and you pretty much know the viewpoints. But the little discoveries of location and light are what keep local photogs going. Like a sea cave in PV.

My friend, Mizzy Miseroy first told me about this unusual sea cave and how it gets at sunset. Some months later I decided to give it a shot. … So who shows up but Mizzy, also out for the shot. It’s a small community.

It was low tide and fairly easy to walk into the rocky waters of the sea cave. But inside the cave, you notice the technical (and physical) challenges. First, the western cave entrance, being on the sea side, gets hit every 10 seconds with a breaking wave – a wave to be avoided in such a closed-in area. Plus you’re in knee-deep water shooting directly into the sun. What could go wrong?

With this subject, I was going for something archetypal, Plato’s Cave with a glow to it from the Golden Hour light – and yeah, this effect only happens fully around Winter Solstice (kinda like at Stonehenge).

That evening, the wave action inside the cave was a bit high. So I went with a long exposure to smooth out the waves and keep the focus on the play of light.

For this image, taken 2 years later, I got on my waders and went further within. From here the experience is more immersive and with the fast shutter speed, more immediate. But each version has its own mood.

But these are just my takes on this intriguing spot on the Peninsula. I later got to see Mizzy’s very different take of the cave – and his version is impressive, one of the winners at the OC Fair Photo Contest. (It’s on view at Pixels gallery in San Pedro.) Erik Jay has shot this location many times over the years (as you’d expect). And the image of the cave he did for his new book, Palos Verdes: The Great Peninsula, was taken later in the evening and is more wide angle. It’s an image full of silence … and uniquely Erik’s vision.

The South Bay has a generous helping of locations that are iconic, even world class. But each photographer uses composition and light to do something more than simple documentation. The photo artist tries to capture a feeling, a sense of connection to nature that is uniquely his or her own … and then share that feeling with us. That’s the challenge.

Tim Truby Bio

Tim came to the Beach Cities in ’99. He’s a First Place Winner at the OC Fair Photography Contest and has shown his images at galleries including Bergamot Station’s bG Gallery. He’s written two photography books, Photographing Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks and Photographing Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef National Parks.

Contact him at 310-480-7237 or visit https://www.tim-truby-photography.com.

Tim’s previous PV Pulse articles can be found here.