La Jolla Scripps Pier

Upon deciding to come to San Diego for our vacation, I knew that this was one of the places that I had to photograph. We headed about 30 minutes north of San Diego to La Jolla, CA. This is where the Scripps Institute of Oceanography is and is home to the Scripps Pier. We got there right before sunset. I knew that I wanted to get there a little early so that I could grab multiple different views of the pier before setting up my tripod for the shot that I really wanted. 

I was surprised at how many surfers were still out in the water when we got there right before sunset. I was able to grab some shots of the surfers coming out of the water after their day in the surf. The surfers provided a nice foreground for the pier in the background. 

Luckily, it wasn't particularly hard to grab a shot of the pier the night that we were there. Besides a family portrait photographer and a family, I pretty much had the pier to myself. While photographing the pier, one of the locals commented on how this was one of the calm days. Apparently the sun sets right at the end of the pier three times per year and is chaotic. He said that some photographers get there hours ahead of the sunset just to be the first in line to grab the shot (and it's not an easy shot to get!). 

Even though the sun didn't set at the end of the pier, I still was able to get this shot of the pier. 

It was so cool to see how the pier seemingly disappeared into the distance and almost looked as if there was no end to it from this vantage point. I set up the tripod and knew that I wanted to control my shutter speed to get this shot that I had envisioned. Even without the sun setting at the very end of the pier, I still came away feeling pretty happy about this shot.