Seaweed Salad, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

On a trip up the California coast to Mendocino, Nicky and I stopped to photograph a beach near Point Arena. The weather was overcast with brightly lit fog—the perfect natural diffuser.

I turned my macro lens on the luminous piles of kelp and seaweed lying at the tide line—and proceeded to slip and fall into one. Nick thought this was hilarious, and “Dad slipped in the seaweed salad” has become something of a family punchline. I don’t entirely get the joke, but I love the textures, colors, and shapes found on the rugged beaches of California.