Picking up from where I left off, Tom and I headed North from Big Sur, stopping for shots of the Bixby Bridge and Shark Fin Cove on the way up. That whole night is a bit hazy as I look back at it, but at one point, we tried to kill and hour at the Burger King in Monterrey as we were waiting for the moon to move a bit further over the ocean before we got to Pigeon Point.
It was nearing 4 AM by the time the lighthouse finally came into view and I slammed on the brakes and made a u turn as both Tom and I realized that the moonlight now completely engulfed the lighthouse from where we were, which was roughly a mile or so South on PCH. Even though both of us were pretty exhausted at this point, we hauled our gear down to the edge of the bluff and continued shooting until the moon had set somewhere around 5:30 AM. As Tom and I are both Nikon shooters, we alternated between the 70-200 2.8 VR and the 14-24. I have to admit that I haven't used the 70-200 that often as my mantra recently has been "Go wide or go home" but I was very pleased with the burst this lens gave me at f22.
For those of you who haven't visited Pigeon Point, I highly recommend a visit as it is easily one of the best lighthouses on the West Coast.
After Pigeon Point, it was time for Starbucks for more caffeine and then off to Yosemite.
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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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There are a couple of challenges to deal with when shooting the Pfeiffer Arch up at Big Sur. First of all, the setting sun only streams through that arch a few weeks out of the year, generally from December through early January. Secondly, you need an evening where there is no fog and a clear sky right out to the horizon. Last Sunday, the forecast called for clear skies up North so I jumped in the Prius and headed off.
Having spent my entire life here in Southern California, I am used to a certain default amount of ugliness as everything generally turns brown around May and stays that way until Winter. But as I headed West on the 60, I found myself experiencing one of the most gorgeous mornings I had ever seen. The hills were just beginning to turn green due to our recent rain, and even Los Angeles could be considered beautiful, glistening in the golden morning sun, the scattered clouds reflected in the mirrored windows of the skyscrapers downtown.
As I drove out of Ventura on PCH my jaw hit the floor as I had never seen the Pacific Ocean that blue. Continuing North, the color of the water turned aqua as I drove through Cambria and San Simeon. As I glanced toward the coast, I noticed two huge bull elephant seals in an epic battle for dominance of that corner of the beach. As I pulled into Big Sur six hours later, I was all smiles as this day could not possibly get any better.
Right up until I reached the turn off for Pfeiffer Beach....and it was blocked with multiple signs across the road announcing that the beach was officially closed.
Frick.
Undettered, I parked the car determined to walk the two miles down to the beach if necessary. I had hauled my gear for 20 minutes or so when I noticed a couple cars full of smiling young people headed down to the beach...and they didn't return. As I was now dreading the hike back UP that road, I decided that I had to at least TRY to drive down closer to the beach as I had already passed at least a couple of spots to park. I walked quickly back to the car and drove past the barricades and found that not only was the road now open (it was closed due to mud slides three weeks earlier) but the parking area was open!
I still had some time to kill before the sun was due to stream through the arch, so I decided to explore the area a bit more this year. I remembered that an older photographer who had shot extensively in the Big Sur area told me that he preferred the view from up on the mountain behind the arch, so up I went. (Disclaimer: If you decide to shoot from there, stay FAR away from the edge of the bluff! Recent rains have made the cliff face very unstable and it looks like more could come down at any moment.)
I reached my spot at around 3:30, and then it was time to sit back and just enjoy that amazing view for the next hour or so, waiting for the sun to get low enough to stream through the arch. By 4:15 I was shooting from several spots along the bluff, being careful to stay away from the edge. By 5 PM, I was back in the car in an attempt to reach the McWay Falls before all the light was gone from the sky. Six hours after McWay Falls, I was pulling into my driveway. Even though it involved over 12 hours of driving, I'm already looking forward to my next attempt next year.
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I was looking through my growing pile of shots and realized that it's been over a year since my last trip to Laguna. During that time I've been keeping an eye on the weather, but between the ongoing drought and marine layer, it's been really difficult to find a weekend to get down there for a sunrise or sunset. We FINALLY got some rain yesterday and more is expected this week, so fingers crossed that we will have a much wetter winter this year.
In the mean time, I've dug through my shots from last year and found another shot from Shaw's Cove that I never got around to posting. On this particular morning, the tide was on the way out, leaving some nice tide pools behind to reflect the early morning sun and clouds. This was taken after I had walked out towards Twin Pointst to shoot back over the cove.
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Here's another shot taken last September from a little further up the beach at Shaw's Cove in Laguna. The weather hasn't cooperated much this Spring as I need a decent sunrise or sunset on a weekend and those have been in short supply so far. But I was kicking myself for missing the whales last week which were surfacing just off the coast from Laguna down to Dana Point.
If you are headed down that way this Summer, be sure to check out www.lagunabeach.com where you will find quite a bit of useful information as well as my earlier shot of Shaw's Cove featured on the home page.
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