The sport of surfing is at the core of Imperial Beach’s image. The “Surfhenge” gateway pays homage to town’s proud surfing heritage, and the 1,500 foot long pier that stretches beyond that gate offers a place to watch and photograph the local surfers at close range. It is also the most southerly located pier on the West Coast, and is a prime fishing spot. I stood a block away to make this image, and used a long telephoto lens to compress distance. Using the rows of parked cars as my foreground, I am able to draw the eye towards the vividly colored acrylic arches of “Surfhenge.” I waited for the crowd at the beginning of the pier itself to thin out, and when the silhouetted couple became visible (just to the right of the arches), I made this image of the most important spot in Imperial Beach.