A 1000 ft long pier used by UCSD to pump fresh seawater into its research tanks, the Scripps pier is one of the longest research piers in the world. Named after the Center’s most prolific donor, Ellen Browning Scripps, it was constructed in 1916 of wood. Finally, after numerous storms and weathering, the Pier was rebuilt in 1988 and appropriately given the Scripps name. The Pier provided the first diving research facility in the Country and was responsible for the SCUBA safety guidelines in use today. I have travelled many times to this Pier and photographed it extensively at sunset. In fact, I was at the Pier the evening before and the sunset was magnificent. Facing west into the Pacific, I never really thought of photographing it during sunrise. That is until I had success with my Laguna Beach photograph at sunrise. I returned the next morning to find the marine layer just off shore being lit up by the approaching sunrise in the east. I was greeted by the soft pastels that can only be seen for a short time in the sky opposite the direction of the sunrise. I set up for the classic shot facing down the Pier and put on a 3 stop ND filter to soften the wave brake around the cold hard concrete of the Pier. To date, its my favorite beach pic, and unfortunately for everyone else, its my wife’s too. Number one of ten claimed by my wife!