Pier into the past

Old concrete piers standing in the Pacific Ocean. The only sounds here is are the crashing waves and the occasional bird. No one comes here anymore.

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Old concrete piers standing in the Pacific Ocean. The only sounds here is are the crashing waves and the occasional bird. No one comes here anymore.

What an exhilarating shoot this was. I had a tight window to visit this beach after a 3-hour drive and just before all light was lost post sunset. Never having been here before I was surprised to arrive atop a 100-foot cliff overlooking this pier remains. It was lightly raining so I left my mobile phone in my car before hiking out to the cliff. I knew I wanted to get closer but could only do so by climbing down the cliff. I live in Ohio and was in California on unrelated business. It was apparent to me this was my only chance to see this and then the phrase “No Guts, No Glory” came to mind. I instantly decided I would make the climb. The bottom of the cliff was littered with jagged metal wreckage and rocks. I was aware that a fall would by last. Nervous for my personal safety, I sent out a ping on my satellite messenger, so my family could know my location. Limited to a short message the text read “I have to climb a cliff, will txt when back” and included my coordinates. It was wet, slippery, and incredibly dangerous climb. I had decent boots, all my gear in a backpack, and a head lamp. I remember thinking half way through how I wished I had a harness, climbing rope, and belay device so I could at least repel safely.

After a 20-minute heart pounding decent I finally arrived at the bottom. It was difficult walking in the sand with hiking boots and no-where to put my backpack or gear that wasn’t sandy. I used my jacket as a barrier. By chance I had 3 plastic bags I used to protect the feet on my tripod from wet sand. I mounted my camera to the tripod, plugged in the shutter release and started positioning myself on before the piers. When I started I needed 5-10 seconds of exposure to capture any useful images. I liked how the water looked and stretched out the exposure to 15-30seconds on shots, so I had some variants in the imagery to work with. I managed to get a few shots from various angles before having to ascent back up the cliff. I turned around one last time and took a picture of the cliff. The camera captures stars and a deep blue sky.

I packed up, put my head lamp, and readied my satellite messenger. I was climbing in the dark this time. I began to get nervous because by this time the rain had started to soak the soil and it was much looser than it was during the decent. It took about 30 minutes to work my way back up the cliff. The last few steps of the climb required a jump to safety. My heart was pounding, I was sweating, and having looked down a few times just plain scared. I made the jump landing on the grass and just laid there for a few moments. I was so thankful I made it safely I remember kissing the solid ground. After a few moments I send another satellite message to my family telling them I was back and OK. I sat there on top of the cliff just watching the dark sky, feeling refreshed by the wind, and listening to the crashing waves. I soon hiked back to the car to find my cell phone with many missed calls and concerned text messages from my family.

Several hours later I arrived in the hotel and immediately backed up and reviewed my pictures. Once I saw what I had captured I realized my payoff. #Don’tTryThisAtHome.

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