This past Saturday, some friends and I decided to head out and go to the beach for a day. I live in San Diego, California just minutes from the ocean, but for some reason, I just never make it down to the beach. After we made some homemade sushi at my place, we headed out. One of my friends has a military ID, so we were able to go to the (relatively empty) Breakers Beach on the Naval Air Station North Island military base. I packed up most of my digital gear (including a cheapo tripod I didn't mind getting eaten by the sand), so right from the start I treated this as a photography retreat.

Most of the excitement (photographically speaking) came from a jetskiier right on the shoreline. I assume he was a lifeguard in training, or something of the sort. The famous Hotel Del Coronado also provided a great backdrop to shoot on for some of my shots. I often forget how many great photographic opportunities exist right in my hometown.

Though the beach was pretty empty due to its exclusiveness, I did manage to capture some decent "stalker-esque" people photos. I've recently found something interesting about photos of ordinary people. They seem to tell a story, and there's a definitely factor of mystery surrounding them. This one I especially liked, though I can't quite say why:

Overall, my cheapest lens (70-300mm Promaster, eBay for ~$5 total) stayed on my camera for most of the day. It always pains me whenever I take a shot, knowing how optically bad the lens is. Nevertheless, I just can't live without it.

You can view the full set for this outing on flickr.