Twin Lakes, Santa Cruz

Going through images while prepping for my 2026 Winter Stanford Continuing Studies Beginning Landscape class, I stopped on this frame from last December at Twin Lakes Beach. A straightforward example of why the basics work: foreground, middle ground, background. Stack them right, and the image holds together.

The ripples in the foreground pick up the last light. The beach and surf sit quiet in the middle. The lighthouse and the sky close it out on the horizon. Three layers, one clean line through the frame. That’s all you need to create movement.

Shot on the Fuji GFX 50R with the 35–70mm. Nothing complicated. December sunsets on the Santa Cruz coast usually show up, and this one did. I was there. Camera ready. That’s it.

Hoping to get back over there again this year. Still the best way to make a photograph: keep it simple, know your fundamentals, and be there when the light hits.