Beach Photos
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Evening on Stearns Wharf
Recently my wife and I spent an evening playing tourist when friends came into town. We took them out to Stearns Wharf for dinner and to watch the sunset. As we were walking back to our car I took the opportunity to get a few shots of the fading colors in the sky. When you live in a beautiful place like this it's a wonderful way to spend an evening seeing it through someone elses' eyes.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Haskells Golden Hour
Golden hour at Haskell's Beach. What a beautiful place to be.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Haskells Bacara Sunset Panorama
Last evening promised to be a beautiful summer sunset. We don't get much moisture around here in the summer, so every opportunity to
capture an amazing evening show must be siezed. Although the clouds seemed to evaporate as the evening went on, they still did not
disappoint. The few clouds that remained looked amazing, as the last sunlight was fading you could see small clouds with virga (rain that does not reach the ground)
falling from them like thier own little self contained rainstorms.
Of course you have to have a great spot to watch the summer sunsets. Because of our south facing coast, the sun sets over the land in Santa Barbara this time of year.
But all the way out of town on the far side of Goleta is a beautiful where worlds collided. The sand is a favorite locals surf spot called Haskell's beach. Up
on the bluff is a beautiful resort that has not been there that long. As the resort was built, it became apparent that access to the beach might become a problem,
but after some serious negotiating the resort owners provided a nice parking lot and a lighted path to the beach. And now us crazy photographers have a nice spot
to spend the evening too. And it's a perfect spot for summer sunsets!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Asilomar Sunset
The end of a beautiful day in Monterey. This is Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove at the tip of the Monterey Peninsula, one of my favorite places to watch the sunset!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Sailors Delight
Some days the weather does amazing things. And although I was very happy to enjoy this spot with my best friend (my wife), it did make me want to be out on one of those sail boats!
And now for the (other) science geeks out there, those repeated clouds that look a little bit like someone took a paintbrush to the sky are Lenticular clouds. They are formed when waves in the air pulls lower humid air up into a cooler air mass. The humid air reaches its dew point and the clouds are formed. The really interesting thing is although the clouds appear stationary (you usually see them hanging over mountains) the air is actually moving relatively fast, it's just that it is only visible in the cool air. It's almost like the cloud is forming on one side and evaporating on the other as fast as the air is moving, leaving what appears to be a stationary cloud in fast moving air.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Carmel by the Sea Cypress Sunset
A veiw of the beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The Cypress trees are beautiful here, especially the ones that have extra character from decades of abuse by the sea. This is actually not far down the coast from the famous lone cypress at Pebble Beach golf course. This guy might not be as famous as his relative up the coast, but he is no less beautiful!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Breakwater Sunset
I particularly like this shot from the breakwater because it shows the rough waves on the outside, and the relativly tranquil waters in the harbor.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Stearns Summer Sunset
As I was sitting looking through some older winter sunset shots yesterday I noticed the unseasonable summer clouds outside, so I had to grab my camera and go see the real thing. This is one of my favorite shots from last night. This was the first shot almost as I was getting out of the car at Stearns Wharf.
Monday, June 25, 2012
UCSB University Center at Twilight
These days UCSB is rather deserted compared to its usually frantic level of energy. But even on a weekend after graduation, while wandering around the beautiful campus I could hear several different groups of people having a good time, cheering and laughing. The size of a small city itself, there is always something interesting going on there.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Asilomar State Beach Sunset Monterey
An amazing sunset at Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove, California. The Monterey Peninsula has no end of beautiful views. As the golden sunset light stretches across the beaches the show only gets better. The only real problem is choosing just one place to sit and enjoy the evening.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Pismo Beach Boardwalk
There are some amazing spots along the California coast. Pismo Beach is one of the more well known, and it's not hard to see why it is so popular. The big wide sandy beach with the amazing views from the beautiful boardwalk are something special even for our coast. Just to the north along the top of that bluff, I have chased some beautiful hummingbirds and watched some amazing sunsets. It's definitely a spot to see if you have the chance.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Stargazing
We are so fortunate to have such amazing beaches, and their beauty is not limited to the warm sunny days. After sunset they are an amazing place to watch the sky. They may not be dark enough to see the really wonderful skies you can see further away from the light of the cities, but the proximity combined with the athmosphere of the crashing waves makes them a perfect spot for stargazing. Originally this shot was going to be a virtual reality panorama, but after a little experimentation I thought this would be a better way to take in the whole sky.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
On the Goleta Pier at Sunset, Virtual Reality
The Goleta pier is a great place to watch the sunset. The sun sets right over UCSB this time of year and the veiw
is spectacular! Especially on these days when we have a sunset that stretches to the other horizon.
Controls from left to right:
+ Zoom in;
- Zoom out;
change the way the view moves when you drag;
toggle full screen
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Overlooking Haskell's Beach from the Twelveth Hole
This is a beautiful spot on the path by the Twelveth hole on the Sandpiper golf course, looking back on Haskell's Beach as you come up from the eleventh.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Santa Barbara Sunset from Butterfly Beach
The end of a beautiful Santa Barbara day as seen from the west end of Butterfly Beach in Montecito. The lights across the water are at the beach in Santa Barbara.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Friday Night in Santa Barbara
The weatherman called it "monsoonal moisture" and this is what it looked like. Now this is my idea of a nice Friday night!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Starry Night Over Butterfly Beach
This is an extremely long exposure just after dark at Butterfly Beach. Even by moonlight our beaches are beautiful, but most of the details of the rocks and the sand were not even visible to the naked eye.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
East Beach Sunset
The winter sunsets are always beautiful in Santa Barbara. But once in a while there is a particularly amazing evening. This was one of those evenings.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Butterfly Beach Stone Wall Sunset Landscape
We're having a wonderful run of beautiful sunsets right now. But this is actually from a beautiful evening walk along Butterfly Beach back in October. I had a request to use the image, but they needed a horizontal layout. Fortunately I usually shoot both horizontal and vertical if I can frame a nice composition both ways for just this reason.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Shipwrecked After Dark on Butterfly Beach
The clouds were beautiful the other evening at Butterfly beach. Just after sunset they looked almost like an aurora. This was an extremely long exposure, the last of a particularly beautiful day.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunset over Santa Barbara from Butterfly Beach
If you've looked around my sites much you probably already know that Butterfly Beach is my favorite beach in Santa Barbara. It's a beautiful place to wander and relax. Sunset is my favorite time, it's always beautiful, but Sunday (the day this was taken) was something truly special!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Butterfly Beach Sunset VR
Like I mentioned on yesterday's Photo of the Day, the sky was beautiful in every direction. Which of course is a perfect opportunity to take a 360° VR photo. The only problem is I did not have any kind of tripod or my normal tools. But the sky was too good to pass up so I gave it a try hand-held and I'm pretty happy with the results.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Butterfly Beach Sunset Contrails
This is another shot from Butterfly Beach taken on the same evening as the Butterfly Beach Golden Hour photo of the day with a MUCH wider lens. The sky was amazing in every direction, even long before the sunset.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Butterfly Beach Golden Hour
I love sunset at Butterfly Beach. It's one of the best places in Santa Barbara to spend the end of the day. This day a couple of weeks ago was particularly beautiful. I was not the only one to notice the beautiful golden light. You can see a couple of other photographers in the photo. Of course, they were there to use the golden light for portrait lighting.
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