Wind off the water in Half Moon Bay

Half Moon Bay has a kind of weather that keeps you honest. Wind, a little salt, light that goes soft at the end of the day. Amil and Rachelle didn't fight any of it.

Coast sessions work when we walk more than we stand. I ask people to talk to each other, not to the camera. The ocean is already doing something; you just have to be in it.

I photograph the California coast often enough — Half Moon Bay, Monterey, Rodeo Beach — that I stop treating it like a destination and start treating it like a room with good light. Same approach as anywhere else. Fewer cues. More looking.

Monterey has a similar quiet

Further south, Monterey holds the same kind of hour — rock, water, a sky that doesn't need much help. I like it for portraits that don't want a city behind them.

If the water is the place you keep coming back to, we can meet there. I don't need a long shot list. A tide and a little time is usually enough.