Never Disappoints

It's harder for me to get down to the shore now that I'm 2 hours away than it used to be when I lived only 15 minutes away, so when I do get down there, I try to take advantage. If I was somehow limited to just one spot to photograph forever, I think this would be it.. an afternoon at the coast never fails to result in something interesting.
Using a little more exaggerated processing here to bring out the underlying graphic design, and just because I'm having fun experimenting with some new looks recently. 

Wave Watchin'

Been "off the grid", at least blog-wise, for a few weeks...
Last Sunday was one of those once or twice a year "big wave" days down at the coast, so we decided to make a trip down there to see what was going on. The waves were pretty spectacular, but also very rough and broken up due to the strong winds, so we couldn't really see those big, glassy smooth breakers that are really photogenic.  Not too good for surfing either, apparently... we didn't see anyone even attempting that.
All in all though, a beautiful day for a walk on the beach and enjoying the salt spray. (Had to clean the residue off my lens and my sunglasses when I got home.) I admit I didn't notice the pelican casually cruising above the action when I was shooting this one.

A Break at the Ocean

It seems like a very long time since I have done any seascapes.  We were down in the city doing some shopping and errands last week and my wife wanted to spend a few hours catching up with a friend, so I had the opportunity to spend the last part of the day over at my favorite seaside spot catching the sunset.  Yes, I had some gear with me because I had anticipated the opportunity:)
I never get tired of the reflecting pools in these rocks and the light on the winter waves. You can find a couple of surfers out there if you look closely.
Visit the SkyWatch home page each weekend for more great skies from all over the world.

California Sky Watchin' - Rocky Shore and Pastel Clouds

I rarely come away empty handed when I head over to this spot late in the day.. almost every evening it's somewhere between simply beautiful and mind-blowing, especially in winter, so I try to take advantage at this time of year.
If I painted this sky, I'd probably want to start over because it almost doesn't look real, but here you go. No HDR or exposure combination necessary here, either.  This is a straightforward shot except for some very basic adjustments. (I do love the graduated filter process that was added to Camera RAW in CS4.. what a great tool and no more messing around with grad filters in the field for me.)
It was still spitting rain after a storm this day, so the rocks were even more slippery than normal.. those dark and mossy areas that you can see are like walking on pure grease or wet ice.. especially dangerous as it gets dark and if your concentration is not on your feet.  But, so far, so good for me.. only a few near-disaster pratfalls that I managed to recover from.  My wife wasn't so lucky a few months ago.. one afternoon we were just walking here enjoying the day and the waves, when she slipped and split her forearm open; we then spent the next half day at the emergency room waiting for her to get seven stitches.. luckily it wasn't bleeding at all while we were waiting. It turned out to be a very expensive afternoon stroll, however. 
Check out more great skies from all around the world each week at the SkyWatch home page.

My Typical West Coast Evening

Very little chance this week to work on any new stuff (although I have much to go over and process from Death Valley), so back to my archives for this week's SkyWatch.

I don't produce as many seascapes as I probably should considering where I live, but whenever I have the inspiration and a prospect of some interesting weather, this is my "go to" spot, just a few minutes from home... no matter how many times I return here it always seems to look different. (I published a whole sequence from one afternoon at the same spot back in February, if any newer readers are interested and haven't seen these yet.)

Enjoy beautiful sky-oriented scenes from all over the world every Friday at the SkyWatch home page.

Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.

- Henri Cartier-Bresson