My "routine" when shooting during a low tide is to walk out as far as I can while the light is still overcast. Such soft, diffused lighting is great for making the colors stand out. Once the sun comes out, I walk along the base of the bluffs, where the rocks are still in shadow or bright shade. Once the harsh sun hits everything, I'm out of there.
Every tide is different. Every tide reveals something new. And this particular minus tide revealed agates by the thousands, and by the time I left the beach, there were lots of people methodically walking self-imposed grid lines, leaving no stone unturned, finding agates all over the place.
Here you see how pebbles fill the low spots between rocks. In the second photo you see some agates that I found no more than one foot and 60 seconds from where I was standing. Yes, I gathered them up and placed them on these rocks, along with a little hermit crab, sequestered in his shell.
And finally you see one of the sea stars that's wedged himself between sea anemones covering a rock wall. It was a very good morning. ©Carol Leigh
