California Beach Photos

As a photojournalist surviving some of the coldest climates in the nation I visited my parents in Huntington Beach, Calif. one winter holiday when it was below 0 degrees in Chicago, and 76 degrees at Southern California beaches. I called my newspaper boss and said, "The press is going to roll without me. I'm not coming back."

I started on the newspaper track in California but quickly discovered the market for freelance photo-communications was lucrative and also allowed me to pick and choose my assignments. I dig sand at beaches and don't dig photo coverage of freeway crashes.

Carving a path as a photojournalist for Fortune 500 firms, public utilities, magazines and many of the biggest non-profits has involved plenty of parties, but also going out to oil rigs in Pacific Ocean, climbing in manholes where they keep cables and really getting down and dirty at times.

I began building websites during the early days of consumer hotel booking and reservations and was approached by a guy (Barry Nakano) who introduced me to affiliate online reservations commissions. I made quadruple the money in hotel room commissions that I earned on photo assignments but continued to do both.

The photos appearing on CaliforniaBeachPhotos.com are pictures I have taken. They are expressions of beach objects, people and places I find interesting. I would like others to take their own personal landscapes around them and explore them through the lens. As you dig deep you grow, and gain so much more than photo skills. -- Debbie Stock, Sunset Beach, Calif.

Portfolios should show a propsective client what they could have if they hired you. You better make it good enough to be considered for the job. If your work passes muster, your personality must seal the deal.