I took these photos during December 2020, just as the State of California started its second lockdown due the COVID-19 epidemic. Public beaches were one public place where people could gather as a community … with social distancing observed.

Cardiff State Beach is a smudge of sand along the coastline in north San Diego County, artificially created in the last century. With a small parking lot and easy access from the coast highway, it provided an inviting refuge.

It wasn’t an easy time, and the holidays season added a bit of irony, juxtaposing celebration with anxiety. I look at these photos and see people trying to whistle past the graveyard called COVID that lurked back in the world.