Four Mile Beach in Black & White

While en route to meet up with a friend in Santa Cruz, I decided to kill some time and hang out at Four Mile Beach. The fading color in the sky wasn't especially appealing, but there still are interesting textures to be found. I had an idea for a black & white photograph, so I thought I'd give it a shot and see what I could come up with. Here is the result after working with a 3-stop, soft graduated neutral density filter by Singh-Ray.