Sunset at the Santa Monica Pier

Some evenings the whole coast turns gold and the most familiar place in the city feels brand new. This is one of them.
The sun drops into the Pacific behind the Santa Monica Pier, the Ferris wheel a quiet silhouette against a sky going from gold to violet. A wave slides up the sand and catches the last of the light, and for a few minutes the end of the day looks like the best thing that ever happened here.
I got down low at the water line and waited for it all to line up: the wave, the color, the sun sitting right on the horizon. It holds for maybe ten minutes before the gold goes blue and the crowd heads home. The pier has been photographed a million times. It is never the same light twice.
For anyone who has watched the sun go down over the Pacific and wanted to hold onto it. Printed and finished to gallery standard, made to anchor a living room, an office, or the wall you walk past every day. A piece of Los Angeles to bring home, or to keep the city close long after you leave.