Fall 2014 California Coast Photo Workshop Recap

It was the rainiest of sunrises and clearest of sunsets.

Well, maybe not exactly the way our 2014 Fall Coastal Workshop went down, but we did start off our Saturday a little soggy. After an informal sunset shoot at Natural Bridges followed by introductions over pizza, the weekend started with a little rain as our group photographed the rocky shelves from a perch above some coastal bluffs. The gray skies soon turned into some nice patchy clouds as we moved up the coast to a nice little section of the San Mateo coast at Bean Hollow State Beach. Here, the big surf and high tide made for some nice opportunities to try out some long exposures. After lunch, we once again headed north to Pebble Beach. With the myriad of interesting rock formations and crashing surf, this spot has subject matter for the big and small stuff. With recent heavy rains, our plan of sunset at San Gregorio State Beach was thwarted as the creek and lagoon had cut off beach access. No worries though as Pomponio State Beach, just a mile or so down the road gave us our glassy reflections  we sought.

Our second kicked off for sunrise at Four Mile Beach in order to position ourselves with somewhat of an easterly view…somewhat of a challenge on the west coast. As the clouds stayed around, we once more made best use of the high tides and big surf as we visited the main beach in front of the coastal town of Davenport. With its staircase shelves and signature sea stack, this beach has some great features for simple subject matter. After lunch, we headed to Panther Beach for our final destination. With so many angles to shoot from, this beach is full of wonderful stretches of sand, rocky shelves, deep rocky channels, and massive, textured rocks. Although the clouds cleared mostly out by sunset, it was still a fantastic way to end our coastal photo workshop.

A big “thank you” to Chuck, Charles, Pooja, Brian, Tom, John, Kevin, and Tony for joining us. We hope to see you again sometime soon!