I turned a 5 hour drive to LA into a 3 day road trip along the coast. My final destination was North Hollywood to spend Christmas with my sister, but my first stop was Cayucos, a small fishing village just north of Morro Bay. This first photo was taken looking back at the town from the middle of a very long pier.
This is looking back from under the pier (taken with a fish eye lens on my iPhone). I love my iPhone
I drove on to Morro Bay where I planned to spend the night so I could photograph both the sunset and the next morning's sunrise. Even with a graduated neutral density filter, the sun shone intensely bright.
I returned the next morning to the same beach. I knew exactly when and where the sun would rise because, "there's a app for that." The crescent moon (upper left corner) was an unexpected bonus.
The tide was coming in and twice I had to scurry back to avoid a low rolling, swiftly moving wave. I was glad no one else was on the beach to see my awkward scramble across the wet sand with my tripod mounted camera held aloft. After taking this next photo, I moved back into the dunes for some additional shots, but my cable release was no longer attached to my camera. I retraced my steps back to this spot, but I didn't see it. I re-retraced my steps back to where I discovered it missing, but even with stopping every few feet and scanning the sand, it was not in sight. I continued photographing using the self-timer, but I really needed that cable. After the sun was well up into the sky and I was tired and hungry, I decided the cable was worth one more retracing of steps (re-re-retracing?). I passed 2 men who had been out on the flats and I asked if they had seen a black cable release. No. I continued on, wondering where I might buy a replacement, when I heard, "Hey! Is this what you're looking for?" Yes! I was ecstatic. It had been lying in a spot I had passed by 3 times. Why didn't I see it? No matter. I had my cable and 2 new friends.
Next stop was Pismo Beach, once again to photograph a sunset and a sunrise. I love this town with it's wide beaches, board walk, and extra long, extra tall pier. My room wasn't ready, so I took my book to the beach. This is another iPhone photo, which seemed appropriate considering the book I was reading.
This sunset shot is also an iPhoto, processed with Snapseed. Not a cloud in the sky to add interest & drama, but I am happy anytime I can capture 3 bands of twilight color.
The last shot of the night was from the board walk looking toward the tree of lights at the end of the pier. A star filter added the radiating beams.
This was the first shot I took early the next morning, once again capturing that cute, little crescent moon over the boardwalk.
Another new tool in my camera bag is a 6-stop neutral density filter. In order to smooth out the waves that came tumbling in, I needed a slow shutter speed that the bright morning light would not allow. This first photo was taken without the filter (1/10th of a second),
and this one with the filter (that allowed for a 5 second exposure). I took dozens of photos with the filter dialed to various levels of light. I liked this one best.
When the sun finally rose above the horizon, the pilings and the water lit up with a golden glow, as shown in this iPhoto (also processed in Snapseed). I used the iPhone camera so I could immediately post the picture on Facebook. There's an app for that.
As I was ready to leave the beach and head inland, swirls of water caught my attention for one last photograph.
It took me three wonderful days to get to LA, but I made it home a week later in 5 hours & 5 minutes. No beaches, no sun rises, no crescent moons, just a straight shot up I-5.
Nice group here, nice work. Great light captured on many.
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