Landscape Photography: Ocean Sunset & Bioluminescence

The emptiness of the beaches is palpable.  They are not empty by choice, but rather by force and I still have trouble understanding why.  The other night, people dotted the shoreline in no parking zones, between cones, under makeshift no parking signs, united apart to see the sun set over the ocean.  Many were peaceful, everyone at least 10 feet or more apart from each other and yet, with loudspeaker yelling and horns, all were peacefully forced off the shoreline.  It was not a mad dash, it was with heavy sighs and sadness.  So the beaches look like this now, empty waiting for joy and laughter to return as we patiently wait for permission to return outside, back to fresh healing ocean air, sand between our toes and that salty wonderful taste in our mouths…in addition to empty beaches, Southern California is experience bioluminescence (occurs through a chemical reaction that produces light energy within an organism’s body. For a reaction to occur, a species must contain luciferin, a molecule that, when it reacts with oxygen, produces light).  It is incredibly beautiful to see the ocean light up florescent blue, what treat! These are not my usual photos as I was standing on a cliff, in the pitch dark, manually focusing on moving waves, but I am happy with what was able to achieve!