What to do when a beach is losing its sand? Move sand from one area in the ocean to another of course! After many years of shrinking, the beach between the Topaz jetty and Ruby St. in Redondo Beach, CA  is growing. This is no easy feat. There has been a barge and much activity just offshore for the past month. A sign on the shore explains that this is part of a beach replenishment project.

It is an intriguing sight that has initiated much speculation and musings from onlookers. Also, it piqued my curiosity. When that happens, I will often turn to Google and this time I learned the sand is being moved from the harbor entrance of Marina del Rey where it had settled thus making the entrance too shallow at times of low tide. Seeing the barge for the past few weeks and desiring a closer look, I grabbed my camera with my most powerful zoom lens attached and went to the shore.

It was early morning a little past the golden hour, the hour immediately following sunrise or preceding sunset, but the light was still soft with a warm hue. The early morning and late evening hours provide diffused softer lighting due to the sun’s position in the sky and are often favored by photographer’s because of this.

The interaction of the boats with the barge kept my attention for quite awhile.

I was glad to be able to zoom to 300mm making it possible to make out the names of the boats and the barge.

Also, allowing for a peek at the activity I couldn’t have gotten with another lens or my naked eye.

Part of the enjoyment I get from photography is the ability to get closer to things and activities and then being able to capture them. It helps to have a lens, such as a 300mm, with the capability of bringing a subject closer when it isn’t  physically possible to get closer. Some may, OK do, call it my inner paparazzi.

May you unleash your inner paparazzi.

~Sue