Orange County · Winter 2026/27
When the ocean pulls back.
A handful of afternoons every winter, the tide drops below zero right as the light turns gold. The reef comes out of the water, the pools fill up with things worth finding, and your kids forget entirely that anyone is taking pictures.
Six dates · December and January · That is the whole season
The Session
An hour on the reef, ending at sunset.
We meet fifteen minutes early, walk down together, and then spend an hour out on the exposed reef at Little Corona del Mar. Anemones, hermit crabs, whatever the ocean left behind. I photograph it the way I photograph everything, candid-leaning with light direction and a few prompts, and the last twenty minutes are the ones that end up on your wall.
The Dates
Three weekends, and no others.
These are every weekend date this winter when the tide is still below zero as the sun goes down. Start times are set backward from sunset, so they are what they are.
December
The Boxing Day tide
Deep water that keeps dropping through the whole session. The reef is at its widest right as the light goes.
Meet · Shoot
January
The quiet weekend
Gentler water, but steady the whole hour, and the beach belongs to nobody the week after New Year's.
Meet · Shoot
January
The big one
More than a foot below zero for the entire hour. There is no other date all winter where the water stays this far out while the light is this good.
Meet · Shoot
Why so few
Two clocks that rarely agree.
Tide pools need a minus tide. Photographs need golden hour. Most of the year those two things happen at completely different times of day, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
In summer the deep tides come at dawn. Through fall the evening lows are there, but sunset is still after six and the water has crept back up by the time the light is worth anything. By February the days stretch out again and the two drift apart in the other direction.
Winter is the narrow overlap. For a few weeks in December and January, the lowest water of the entire year lands within an hour of the earliest sunset of the year. I went through every tide prediction from September to February looking for weekend dates where the water is still below zero when the sun goes down.
Six of them. That is not a marketing decision. Check it against any tide chart you like.
Come prepared.
- Shoes that can get wet, with grip. Old sneakers beat sandals. The rock is slick and uneven, and this is the one thing that actually matters.
- Layers, and towels in the car. It is January at the water's edge and the sun goes down at the end. Somebody is getting wet, and it is usually the youngest.
- A change of clothes for the kids. Not for the photos. For the drive home.
- Warm earth tones, no loud logos. A full styling guide comes with your booking, but that is the short version.
- Expect a real outing. This is not stand-here-and-smile. We are climbing around on a reef for an hour, and the pictures come out of that.
Six Dates
Pick your weekend.
Tell me which date you are after and how many of you there are, and I will hold it while we sort the details.
Claim a Date