San Diego Bioluminescence

My first year living in San Diego, and I’m already greeted with some pure magic! Starting in late April of 2020, the red tide came to visit Southern California. I had seen Bioluminescence before, but nothing even close to this! One night I convinced Erin to get off the couch last night to check out the ocean. It was like lightning in the water, or fireflies to the naked eye. Every wave lit up with neon sparkles as it crashed. I became obsessed with shooting the phenomenon happening right in my backyard. I went out to explore a different location along the coast almost every night. This was all during quarantine, so I had a bit more time than usual to work on this passion project. I kept expecting the red tide to disappear, but somehow it stuck around for almost a whole month. Over that time, I took over 16,000 photos and filled up over 1TB of data shooting time lapses. I spent weeks editing the culmination of all this content into a short film called “Neon Waves”. This film has since been screened in a half dozen film festivals, and won a few awards including 2nd place in the Beauty of Nature category at the Timelapse Film Festival in Joshua Tree, CA. Check it out below!

“Bioluminescence occurs through a chemical reaction that produces light energy within an organism’s body. In this case phytoplankton, a massive number of dinoflagellates, small organisms that move through the sea.”

There was something so magical and mesmerizing about the neon waves. Capturing it was so fun and rewarding, it’s that thrill and energy that makes me obsessed with photography! I also did a print giveaway and promotional sale of my Bioluminescene photography. Visit my print store to check out the selection!  😉 “NEONWAVES” for 25% off my entire print store.