So the original plan was to shoot the near full moon in Yosemite for two nights with Ryan and Tom. Ryan got called in to work at the last minute, and Tom and I decided to get a bit crazy and try a 40 hour banzai trip up the coast to Big Sur and Pigeon Point shooting the sunset, the moonset and the sunrise on the coast before heading to Yosemite to shoot the next moon rise as it came up near Half Dome.
So six hours after we took off last Friday, we pulled into the parking lot at Pfeiffer Beach next to another photographer who was just unloading his gear and struck up a conversation. This particular photographer had galleries in Las Vegas, Dubai and London. As he mentioned Las Vegas, something clicked and I knew this must the the photographer I read about last Summer who sold a recent print for 1.8 million dollars. It was indeed Jeff Mitchum, and he was VERY helpful as he has shot extensively in Big Sur and along the coast. We mentioned that we were planning to go from Pfeiffer down to McWay Falls before heading North to Pigeon Point, and he asked if we had thought about stopping in Davenport. I had completely forgotten about Davenport having made a mental note over the Summer to be sure to stop by after seeing some amazing shots by some Bay Area photographers like Matt Granz.
So somewhere between 1 and 2 AM, Tom and I grabbed out stuff out of the Prius and headed South along the point we had stopped at, just outside of Davenport. We walked about a mile along an amazing bluff which was completely lit up by the moon and we were both busy shooting when Tom realized that we were not shooting the Shark Fin and we certainly did't see the cove we were looking for, so it must have been North of where we parked. So we doubled back and walked about half a mile the other way and we came upon another incredible beach but again...no fin.
So we walked BACK to the car and drove North and this time we actually could SEE the Shark Fin cove from PCH and minutes later, we were sloshing through seaweed a foot thick trying to make our way into the cave that you see pictured above.
More adventures were to follow, including getting stopped by the cops, Bixby Bridge, an amazing moonset behind Pigeon Point Lighthouse, a misty sunrise at Crystal Springs Reservoire, Moonrise in Yosemite from Artist Point shooting the rising moon over the rose colored snow, and finally the moon reflected off of the frozen Merced River at the Gates of the Valley view before making the painful six hour drive back to Orange County.
The drive home hurt pretty bad as we had to continually keep changing drivers to stay awake and I finally made it home at 2 AM, a full 43 hours after I had taken off to pick up Tom in Laguna. In spite of the fatigue, this particular experience was easily one of my favorites and I can't wait to try something like this again. We traveled over a 1000 miles over two nights as we drove from one epic scene to another. What could be better?
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