Sonoma Coast. The Sonoma Coast in Northern California is a rugged, rural stretch of shoreline roughly an hour north of San Francisco. The water off the coast is cold and many of the days are cold also.
On a good day the fog burns off around noon and stays out to sea for 4 to 5 hours. On a really good day the sun will burn off earlier and stay out till sundown.
The scene opens onto a rugged stretch of the Sonoma Coast, where land and ocean meet with a kind of quiet force. The shoreline curves gently away from you, a mix of pale sand and dark, wave‑worn rock. The Pacific is a deep, cool blue—so saturated it almost feels heavy—its surface textured with long, rolling swells that catch the light in shifting ribbons of silver.
Farther out, the water deepens to an inky navy, hinting at the cold, powerful currents that define this coastline. Each wave folds toward the shore with a soft, rhythmic hush, the kind of sound you feel in your chest as much as you hear with your ears.
Above the water, the sky is open and luminous. The sun is low—late afternoon sliding toward evening—and its warm, golden light pours across the scene. It grazes the tops of the waves, turning their edges translucent, and washes the cliffs in a soft amber glow. The air looks crisp and clean, the kind of coastal air that smells faintly of salt, kelp, and wind‑scoured stone.
To the right, the land rises into rugged bluffs covered in muted greens and browns—windswept grasses and hardy coastal plants clinging to the slopes. Their textures are rough and organic, contrasting with the smooth sheen of the water. The cliffs cast long shadows that stretch toward the beach, adding depth and a sense of quiet solitude.
A white fish mottled with orange feeding at an ocean reef. Its surroundings are rocky but it feeds on a small relatively flat section covered with fine plant-like growth.
A large tan moray eel pauses in a shallow crevice with its mouth agape. The eel is covered with fine mottled brown spots. It has red sponge above its head.
A sea turtle resting on the ocean floor. It has a rounded head, a smooth carapace with barnacles visible on the rear of the shell. It has flattened fins propping up its body. The surrounding ocean floor is covered with coral, debris and rocks.
An eel with smooth yellow skin opens its mouth as it rests in a crevice at an ocean reef. The eel has a round eye with a dark vertical iris, the colored part of the eye.
A white spade-shaped fish as big as your palm swimming with blue ocean behind it. The fish is cross-hatched with black lines and has a black tail and fins.
A translucent squid marked with dark tan bands swimming in the open ocean. Its tentacles are dangling on the right, and its eye is silvery. The water is light blue.
Photo of the Creature, the Mastodon stuffed toy, sitting by the sea in a rocky tide pool area during a late afternoon. In the foreground, the Creature is sitting on a folded black neoprene jacket on top of some golden rockweed–encrusted rocks, looking towards a tide pool that has formed among the rocks in front of them. In the background, the setting sun's soft glow lights up a calm bay at the foot of steep, sandy hills lined with palm trees.
A large moray eel moves along a rock wall at an underwater reef. Its mouth is closed and its head is shaded green. Its thick body has pale undertones and is mottled with fine salt and pepper markings.
An oval white fish marked with bold golden-yellow diagonal lines feeding on an ocean reef. It has outlines in black and pale yellow. It has black lines on its face.
A beige-colored fish with orange lips pauses on an underwater reef. It has fine cross-hatched markings on its body and light-colored pectoral fins marbled with dark brown. Its surroundings are rocky and faintly pink in color.
A group of yellow fish milling about over an ocean reef. There are a few orange fish near this group, with a vast expanse of blue water farther in the background. A overhanging ledge is visible at the upper right.
A small sea turtle pauses at the surface over an ocean reef. It has a smooth streamlined carapace, rounded head and flattened fins. The surrounding ocean is a dull blue color.
About bottle caps and a general denial of reality.
I made this work in 2012. I filled a humming top with plastic objects found in the stomach of one albatross chick on Kure Atoll (Northwestern Hawaiian islands). 340 g. Cigarette lighters, plastic fragments, toys and mainly bottle caps.
There is a reason why the lids no longer come off the bottles!
[Swaantje Güntzel, stomach contents/340g, 2012, plastics, metal, 19,7 x 26,7 x 25,4 cm]
The image shows a toy spinning top for children with a blue base and red handle. Inside the spinning top are various plastic objects, such as lighters, bottle caps and toys. The objects were found in the stomach of an albatross chick on Kure Atoll.