The high tide rushes in and nears its peak near nightfall, as the Cayucos Pier ties the scene together some time after sunset. I lived in this tiny coastal town for a few years, and the pier always seemed to me like the center of the town: a gathering place for locals and those visiting the small town, an iconic feature stretching several hundred meters out into the deep, and where I always kept coming back to for my photography.

The pier was reworked a few years back, the rot of decades having exacted its toll on the older version. I returned here in late summer, having not been back to shoot photos of the spot in at least ten years. It seemed like the kind of spot that would lend itself well to the melding of evening and night, and I was pretty happy with the results. The high coastal cirrus clouds provided a welcome addition to the scene too.

A large amount of the significance of scenes like this are the features of the Milky Way and one might think that clouds can impede or ruin such a shoot, but I think a combination of 1/4 to 1/3 clouds in the sky actually enhances the whole thing.