Back to the Sea

Boom! - La Jolla, California

I do love living in the mountains, but sometimes I miss the ocean... luckily it's not that far away. My go-to spot when I need some inspiration.. not just photographically speaking. No matter the season or time of day, there is always something going on, just depends on how hard you look.

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.

SkyWatch: "Winter's Swell"

I guess I tend to have a one-track mind... I'm still working at sorting and editing my entire catalog and therefore just haven't had much energy for writing on the blog or visiting around. It's good though that I am reworking a lot of old stuff with a fresh eye and eliminating a bunch of images that never were quite right.  I haven't been out to shoot at all for several weeks, partly because of this and partly because we've been getting a lot of snow on the mountain and it's been a chore just to stay mobile.
This one was made last winter while we were still living at the coast.  I spent an afternoon pretty much just sitting on some rocks and shooting the huge waves of a winter swell. The light got really strange and interesting reflecting off the water towards the end of the day, producing this nicely abstract effect of the water and sky blending together. I've caught this blue and gold effect several times and I really like it. The power and dynamics of the ocean are fascinating to watch when it's this active, but hard to capture just at the right moment... really just have to shoot a lot and hope for the best:)
Visit the Sky Watch home page every week for great skies and nature images from all over the world.

Whoosh! Whump! Boom!... Sunset Cliffs

One of the more dramatic results from an afternoon spent watching post-storm waves crash into the rocks at probably our best local surfing/wave-watching spot.  You can't easily get down to beach level here (and wouldn't really want to on a day like this anyway), but there are some nice outcroppings where you can climb down fairly low and shoot back towards shore for a great view with reasonable safety. Amazing how tricky it can be to get the right composition to combine with the just right instant of the waves breaking.. but I sure can watch and work on it for a very long time without getting bored. 
Although the color of the waves was quite nice, I found it to be kind of distracting and decided that I preferred a monochrome approach. A few lucky people get to live right here, as you can see at the top of the frame... not a bad spot for your house, huh?

Fire in the Sky

A photographer's dream day.. what else can I say?

It's such an advantage to be really familiar with a place before you try to photograph it. Whenever I travel, I have to rely largely on luck and instinct to be there when the conditions are right... it can be a frustrating experience as many of you know well, especially if a lot of time and expense were involved in getting somewhere. Here at home, however, I can watch the weather and the sky every day and just know when it's going to be happening. Occasionally it's a bust, other times like this, it's way better than expected.

Virtually no processing on this (yet)... just a slight exposure tweak and a bit of levels in the sky.

Be sure to visit the SkyWatch home page for other awesome skies from around the world.

The Weather is Swell... and a Winter Swell

At last an interesting day.. actually, an absolutely EPIC day, with huge waves from a winter storm far out to sea, combined with some perfect, beautiful light this past Saturday. This is the kind of day that happens once or twice a year; a situation to be out there with lots of time and all my photo gear ready at hand.

You'd better be a pretty competent surfer/swimmer to handle this stuff (even so, the lifeguards were busy all weekend)... they are the only ones that really get to experience the thrill and the power of these conditions first hand, but it's still lots of fun for the rest of us observing from shore, if nothing else.

Anyway, this day started out great and got even better, so I hope everyone is up for some ocean images:) I shot enough exposures in 3 hours to keep me busy for quite a while (the light after sunset was a jaw-dropper)... this is just a little teaser. I'll be back later in the week for SkyWatch, if not sooner.

A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart, leaves the viewer

a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective. - Irving Penn