You may see a few photos from nearby locations here. Many shoots span multiple spots in the same session.
Twin Lakes Beach
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Where we shoot, on a map
Twin Lakes Beach sits at the entrance to the Santa Cruz Harbor on the east-side promenade, five minutes from downtown. Free parking along East Cliff Drive, a gentle sandy stretch with the harbor masts to one side and Pleasure Point's surf-spotter point in the distance, Schwann Lagoon behind you with herons. The Santa Cruz town beach — the one locals actually go to.
The way I actually pitch Twin Lakes to couples is as the local-Santa-Cruz answer. Most of the spots I shoot on this coast are out-of-town destinations — north-coast bluffs you have to drive twenty minutes to reach, south-coast cliffs that ask for a scramble, resort beaches in Aptos. Twin Lakes is the opposite. It's the beach a Santa Cruz local would actually take a friend visiting from out of state. Free parking right on the bluff above the sand. The harbor a two-minute walk to your right. The pleasure pier visible to your left as a backdrop. Schwann Lagoon at your back with herons fishing. It reads as Santa Cruz the town, not Santa Cruz the destination.
The lay of the land
The Twin Lakes story I tell most often is the heron one. A Tuesday-afternoon engagement session in early October, low light, couple was nervous because they'd been planning Natural Bridges for weeks and the marine layer had locked in heavy enough that the arch was effectively invisible. We pivoted to Twin Lakes on twenty minutes' notice because of the cell signal — they could text the parents the change of plans from the car. We started at the harbor mole, worked our way up the beach as the fog thinned, and ended in the marsh-grass corner of Schwann Lagoon for the closing frames. Right as the sun broke through the fog about ten minutes before official sunset, a great blue heron landed in the grass twenty feet behind the couple. It stood there frozen, watching them, for the entire closing sequence. The frame we ended up running in their save-the-date was the couple in soft warm light, heron in soft focus behind them, the lagoon glowing. Lesson I tell every couple now: Twin Lakes is the rescue beach when the destination beach isn't working. The signal alone makes the audible call. The heron is a bonus.
Make a trip out of it
Where to stay
Getting here
A few things about Twin Lakes Beach
Twin Lakes is named for Schwan Lake (still here, behind the north end of the beach) and Woods Lagoon (filled in 1962 to create the Santa Cruz Harbor). The harbor you see at the south end of the beach is literally one of the two original 'twin lakes.'
— Wikipedia / LocalWiki Santa CruzTwin Lakes State Beach was established in 1947. The harbor came later — Woods Lagoon was filled and dredged in 1962 to create the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor.
— California State Parks / santacruzharbor.orgSchwan Lagoon is now a protected freshwater wildlife habitat. Great blue herons, snowy egrets, and night herons fish the shallows year-round. Occasional river otters work the marsh edges.
— LocalWiki Santa Cruz / California State ParksThe Crow's Nest has been at the harbor entrance since 1962, the same year Woods Lagoon was dredged into the harbor. The restaurant has been a Santa Cruz landmark for sailors, surfers, and post-beach diners ever since.
— Crow's Nest history / general Santa Cruz tourismThe East Cliff Drive promenade above Twin Lakes was a key Santa Cruz coastal walking route long before West Cliff Drive's better-known boardwalk. The east-side promenade runs from the harbor to Pleasure Point, a roughly one-mile cliff walk popular with locals at sunset.
— Visit Santa Cruz County / LocalWikiTwin Lakes is the most sheltered beach on the Santa Cruz coast — the south-facing orientation and the curve of the bay block most of the prevailing northwest wind, which is why the beach is often calm on afternoons when Natural Bridges or West Cliff is windy.
— general Santa Cruz coastal weather observationThe volleyball courts on the north end have been a community fixture since the 1970s. Sand volleyball at Twin Lakes was part of the early West Coast beach-volleyball scene before the sport had a professional tour.
— general Santa Cruz history / community references
Twin Lakes Beach also appears as Twin Lakes State Beach, Schwan Lagoon Beach, Schwann Lagoon Beach, or East Cliff Beach.