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Hello!  My name is Phoebe, and I am a photographer currently based in Los Angeles, CA.  Here you'll find both a mix of my work, my personal life, and any other tidbits I find interesting.

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07.26.09
Every year, in the wee hours of the morning, little fish flock southern California beaches to spawn in what is known as the Grunion run.  My first (and until recently, only) experience was spent shivering on the beach at night scouring the beaches with a flashlight, only to walk away sleepy and tired with an empty bucket.

grunion1.jpg

This time around I still ended up with an empty bucket, but that was because we gave up our catch to a family.  We hit a relatively desolate stretch of beach about ten minutes before midnight, and waited, finally following the birds to the end of the beach where our flashlights revealed lightning quick flashes of silver.  Many of them are ridiculously quick, I can't tell you how often I attempted to chase one down only to be smacked by a cold Pacific ocean wave for my troubles.  They are also small and squirmy, and I was very leery of squishing them.

grunion2.jpg

The videos below are courtesy of Vivian's camera, starring Ricky (with commentary by Vivian) and the Grunions. :)



Here's a video with the males fertilizing the eggs and the female laying the eggs vertically in the sand:



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Comments
Katie McKissick:

This is awesome! Have you seen Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead? There is a scene where Christina Applegate and her man have their first date watching the Grunion run. I had completely forgotten about it until now!

(07.27.09)
Ricky Kotani:

I'm a little skeptical of doing that again also...
but then it was large amounts of fun, and if anything, always good times.

I'm glad we decided not to take them home.

(07.28.09)
Vivian Shih:

Grunions = fun. Glad it was a success! It's amazing how they return (in the same abundance) every year!

(07.28.09)