My girlfriend and I led a group up to the Sonoma coast this weekend to do some abalone diving. I work at a dive store south of the Golden Gate where the abalone fishery is closed. Only north of the bridge can you collect these prized molluscs. It's kind of ironic that my vegetarian girlfriend and shellfish allergic self do these trips, but we just simply enjoy the rustic, rural coastline of northern California.

We decided to take an extra day to explore the coast up to Mendocino. We first stopped off at Schooner Gulch where the famous bowling ball beach is located. It took us almost an hour to find it and the tide wasn't going to pan out for a sunset shoot, so we motored up further north.

We grabbed one of the last campgrounds at Van Damme State Park, one of their "emergency" spots as they were technically full. Although there was still over two hours to go before sunset, I wanted to drive the 3 miles to the headlands to make sure we found this spot without delays like earlier in the day.

So the two of us stood out on this bluff for two hours, had a beer, got cold, but stuck around until the bitter end. No color, no sun, just the typical high marine layer of California summer.

If you ever get the chance, this coastline is pretty darn cool. There are caves and arches a-plenty, but the access is limited. I may post some other day time images from the trip of some cool spots. Nothing too exciting, but interesting for the documentary side of photography.

Nikon D300
Nikkor 12-24mm @ 14mm
3 minutes @ f8, ISO 100
B+W Polarizer and 10-stop filters
Lee .6 Hard and Soft GND Filters for the sky