Moons Over Monuments

First Beautiful Moon of the Day.

More about Our First Moons Shoot -

5:30 on a Friday morning the alarm went off.  We stumbled to the car and drove North on PCH as the sun rose in the East.  The moon was a giant white ghost, setting over the ocean. I thought that was a particularly good omen for the task ahead.

As we drove into Zuma Beach, toward the cliff at the end of the parking lot, I could see a lone figure sitting on the tip of the dune, watching the morning waves.  Well that’s a little fly in the planning ointment.  Would it be rude to tap them on the shoulder and say “Excuse me, I just need to take a picture of my butt, would you mind moving for a minute?”

I hiked the quarter-mile up from the beach to the top of the cliff, wishing for 2 things the entire time:

1. No Snakes on the trail
2. That the person sitting there would move before I had to be brazen and interrupt their morning reverie.

No snakes harassed me, luckily (they make my legs itchy).  When I got to the top of the bluff, the end was still occupied. I called Seen, who was standing on the beach with the camera.  We made the decision that I would just drop trou for my early morning modeling session where I was standing, with the lady still sitting on the edge of the cliff 50 ft away.  So I bared myself to the wind, Sean and Northern Malibu.

Me and My Buddy!

Apparently the noise I made, by giggling to myself to cover my embarrassment, was enough to rouse the wave worshiper from her post.  About a minute after my pants were back in proper, hiney covering position, she stood, stretched, turned away from the ocean and walked past me to the path back to saneland.

Then I was free to express myself to the pod of pelicans on the beach, the kayaker (who I did not notice at the time, but appears a little too close in some pictures) and the camera.  Our first shoot went off as planned!

Sean climbed up the hill to join me and we watched the surf roll in and out and the sky move from pastel morning twilight to a brilliantly blue sunny day.  We saw a few dolphins frolicking close to shore, which is always fun to witness.  At one point, Sean pointed to the sea while excited asking if I saw the whale.  Sure enough, about 3 seconds later, a geyser of water blew upward!  The whale was about 300 yards off the beach.  From the locations of the following 4 or 5 geysers, he was headed to deeper waters.  Sean got a picture of a smidgen of his back.  We’d gone on a whale watching boat a few years ago, but never had a sighting this good!

Squint and you can see the whale.

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We had a great time.  There is something peaceful about being up at dawn and near the ocean.  I can’t wait for our next adventure into the Moons.