Hitting the Road

After installing the Thule Carrier no less than three times... too far to the back, crooked, backwards you name it... My friend Iain and I piled the camping gear in for our desert portion of the trip and hit the highway. Our first intended stop was along the coast north of San Francisco in search of a Harbor Seal rookery of which I recently learned.

As it turned out our first stop was the graveyard in Sebastapol. We had an amazing graveyard in the town where I grew up. It was full of old stones that my mother and I would make rubbings from, there were tons of old trees to sit beneath and one side had a great hill for sledding in the winter so far from eerie, graveyards have always been a place where I went to relax and enjoy the quiet. I kept this in mind as I slowly wandered through the tombs, admiring the trinkets people had left for their loved ones. Green plastic snakes, ornate crosses, Christmas Tree decorations, bracelets, teddy bears and more. One grave in particular caught my eye - a marble woman sitting in thought. The morning dew clung to her eye lids and ran down her cheeks. She looked so serene, quiet and peaceful that I had to take time to study the angles until I found a shot that I feel captured her beauty.

We piled back into the car and headed toward the coast again, intent on capturing the cute faces of the harbor seals. Instead, we found a raging sea that was boiling and bubbling over the rocks and crashing onto the beaches below the cliffs. So of course we had to stop and attempt to capture the moment.
When we finally arrived at the rookery we discovered that all access was closed off... not as we had feared because of the seals but rather because the surf was too rough and unpredicable. The rangers feared people would be swept from the beach by sleeper waves and out to sea, never to be heard from again. I think they were more afraid that people would try to surf and the coast guard didn't want to have to fish people out. So no Harbor Seals for us. :0(( Better luck next time.

So on to Tahoe we drove arriving after nightfall. We settled into our rooms and I promptly passed out for the night. A pretty good start to the trip even though it wasn't what we expected.

Two Day Sea Otter Workshop

I spent a lovely two days exploring Elkhorn Slough and playing with sea otters. The weather couldn't have been more different day to day. Tuesday was bright and sunny while Wednesday was overcast and far cooler. Captain Yohn Gideon (Elkhorn Slough Safari) , an achomplished photographer himself, was able to maneuver the pontoon boat into just the right position for all of the workshop participants to obtain wonderful images of the otters and some of the numerous shorebirds.

Since we were doing back to back morning shoots I decided to stay in Moss Landing over night. What I thought was going to be a mere convienience turned out to be an ultimate luxury! Four people on the tour booked rooms at the Captain's Inn Bed and Breakfast. Every little detail was perfect! Melanie was the perfect hostess... cookies waiting for us in the room, a wonderful warm breakfast to start us off and warm coffee and tea at night. Located in an historic building, the Captain's Inn is a nautical paradise. Each room is based on a theme and decorated with boat parts and memorabilia including a wheel house and glass floats to make even the most avid collectors envious! I have to admit, the bed was so comfortable I was tempted to stay in it and sleep the day away! If you head down to Moss Landing, do yourself a favor and spend at least a night if not more in the Captain's Inn.

The Coup d'etat was obtained by both Michael Kern and Enrique Aguirre. Otters are extremely curious creatures. I've seen them steal canvases off of boats, blankets and balls from beach goers and even a dive float. However, this one took the cake. A Sony Video Camera... AND she was holding it the right way as if she were filming us! Check it out on Enrique's blog. I'm just bummed I was in the back of the boat and missed the shot. Too much fun!

Point Reyes Serenity

In my attempts to show off my neighborhood and the local areas I love so much I am rediscovering favorite places and am finding them to be wonderfully soothing and yet exhilarating places to photograph.

The old 'Point Reyes' boat that is grounded behind the hardware store in Inverness has always been a favorite stop of mine. The morning I took Iain out there though it was high tide! I'd never stopped there when the water reached the boat and I was delighted to see the boat reflected in the calm waters.

A few days later Enrique joined us for a sunrise run to Drakes Beach. Iain and Enrique went up the cliff to capture the glow on the far cliff faces but I was intrigued by the flat rocks I saw on the beach. It didn't take me long to find some pretty drift wood and set up a shot that I found peaceful and compelling.

My Backyard

It seems that I never have time to explore my 'backyard' - I'm always heading to some destination far away or if I AM home, I am buried in paperwork or paying bills. That's why I'm always thrilled when someone comes to town to visit. Even better when that someone is another photographer.

My friend Iain is in from Australia and so the past week I've received a proverbial kick in the butt to get out and photograph. We've been up to Point Reyes and down to Piedra Blancas... I've explored new locations to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge and I've discovered a fabulous area to photograph the migrating water fowl.

Tomorrow we pick up another photographer who is coming in from Canada, Isabelle, and we head down to Moss Landing for another session with the Sea Otters on Elkhorn Slough. In the afternoons we hope to get back down to shoot more elephant seals. I got some nice stuff with our crazy morning drive but I'm hoping for more now that I have an idea of what to expect of the shooting conditions.

One of the things I really like about hanging about with other photographers is being in the exact same spot and comparing images later. It never ceases to amaze me how two, three, even 5 people standing withing 20 feet of each other will obtain very different images. You can check out some of Iain's shots from the trip so far on his blog.