Razor Clams for The New York Times

Last week I spent two days on the Olympic Peninsula exploring Aberdeen, Hoquiam, and Ocean Shores for several assignments. I've always been fascinated by the depressed old timber towns here that are now struggling to keep their economies moving forward. One of the assignments I was asked to shoot was the clam diggers that gather along the Washington coast during low tide events to harvest razor clams. I didn't know quite what to expect and was hoping for a nice morning and not a torrential downpour. The morning turned out to be beautiful and something I will definitely be back to take part in and photograph again. At six in the morning, people began to drive their cars out on the beach to begin searching for the signs of clams. Some diggers used shovels, while others used a tube that when shoved into the sand around an unsuspecting clam, creates a suction that pulls up the sand and hopefully a good size clam. It was fun to see a diverse group of people including small children dogs, and old timers who had been clam digging all of their lives. Here is a selection of photos from the shoot.
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