Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Bixby Pastel Twilight

The evening light changes moment to moment along Highway one. Just a few minutes earlier it seemed that the light was all gone, but as the evening settled in, the glow from the unseen sunset over the horizon seemed to fill the air with a beautiful warmth.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Bixby Creek Bridge Twilight

South of Monterey along the Pacific Coast Highway there is a stretch of California coastline that has to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world. Among the many amazing things this area known as Big Sur has to offer are some amazing man made wonders. This is Bixby Creek Bridge an open spandrel (referring to the spaces above the arches) concrete arch bridge. It's completion in 1932 meant an end to the 11 mile inland trek required to cross Bixby creek which was all but impassable in the winter. As beautiful as the bridge is during the day, just after sunset the colors really come alive especially with a nice long exposure.

Thursday, March 13, 2014
Bixby Creek Coastline Big Sur

Bixby Creek Coastline in Big Sur on Pacific Coast Highway. Whenever I'm in Monterey I like to take a day to drive down Highway 1. There is no end of beautiful things to see, and every day is absolutely unique. This day was virtually cloudless, but there was still enough fog over the water and mist from the waves to give the late afternoon sun some nice golden color.

Friday, May 17, 2013
Vista Point Storm

There is a little turn off from the 101 South about 20 miles north of Santa Barbara. The evning I took this was right after a great storm rolled in. Santa Barbara and Goleta were already socked in. They are somewhere in that deep dark cloud on the horizon. But the storm had such a distinct edge, it seemed like it would be possible to get out from under it so I took off for the Vista Point. A few miles before I got there the clouds started to break up and I got out from under the rain enough to watch it slowly make its way toward me as the sun was going down.

Saturday, April 26, 2008
San Simeon Sunset

This was taken the evening before my VR Highway 1 Sunset, just a little further up Highway 1. If you turned around from where we were standing you could almost see the top of Hearst Castle in the hills.

Of course if you looked to the left... and I apologize in advance for ruining the tranquil California sunset day dream you're having right now... there were a bunch of Elephant Seals. And they were quite loud and very comical. I'm sure I have a few shots of them to get on-line soon.

Now back to the regularly scheduled day dream... Right up the road, a little closer to the lighthouse is a scenic point that has less seals, and when we were there they were just laying enjoying the evening sea breeze. One had her flipper over her baby like she was hugging it. So if you'd rather picture yourself there that would work too. :-D

Sunday, March 2, 2008
Highway 1 VR Sunset

If you have Flash installed in your browser, click and drag on the image once it loads, you should get a pleasant surprise.

This image has been quite a few days in the making. I had the good fortune to be in Cambria (north on the coast, 'bout half way to Monterey) last week around sunset and I just happened to have my new panoramic tripod head with me. Seeing as how I don't have a good fish-eye for my digital camera, I used my widest lens available. To get the whole image it took 36 shots. Of course, the difference shooting into the sun, and away was more than a single exposure setting could handle. So I had to take three separate exposures and combine them into a High Dynamic Range Image.

From that point, I just had to see how far I could push my computer. Rather than scale the images down I wanted to see just how big I could make the image. In the end the 108 images combined into a two gigabyte, 240 megapixel image. I figure it would print nicely at around twelve feet wide. I spared your internet connection the full size image. But as I mentioned above, users with Flash should be able to experience a nice point of view. I can tell you the VR interface gives the closest experience to actually standing there taking the photo I can imagine.

Enjoy, and please let me know if you experience any difficulties with the new interface.

Monday, January 15, 2007
Quiet Spot

This is a nice relaxing spot right along Highway 1 in Big Sur. I love the color of the water here. The beautiful blue-green makes me want to grab my Scuba gear. Of course, even though you can't really see it in this shot the waves this day would have made a dive more of an adventure than I'm lookin' for.

Friday, October 7, 2005
Happy Cows

You can't really make them out at this size but there is a heard of cows in the distance on the left side of the image. If you are not familiar with it, the California Cheese industry runs a cool ad campaign about their happy cows. You see, they are much happier because they live in beautiful rolling fields in sunny California so they make good cheese. Those commercials always make me think of this photo and the beautiful day I took it.

I think it's time for another vacation, then again, when isn't it?

Thursday, June 2, 2005
Lighthouse Point Sunset

This was a great drive at sunset along PCH. The wind was amazing that day.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Beach House

If you look near the bottom of this image you will see a house tucked away at the bottom of the hill. There is a long winding road leading down to the house that starts just to the left of where I was standing. It curves around to the right far out of the image, before reaching the house. What a driveway.

Monday, April 18, 2005
Pacific Coast Sunset

One day while we were in Monterey we took a drive down Highway 1. It was a hazy day, but that made for a nice sunset. As we got higher on the side of the mountain it looked like we were above a layer of clouds that was hugging the water. With a little luck I will have some photos of that... as soon as I get the other 23 rolls of film developed. :-D

The bright spot at the left of the photo that initially looks like the sun is actually a lens flare. The sun is out of the frame. Because of the haze, including the sun in the shot made a large fuzzy bright area rather than a nice sunset shot.

Thursday, April 14, 2005
Gold Coast Sunset

I just got back from a trip to Carmel and Monterey. It was a much needed vacation, it's been over two years since my last one. I had a great time, although I did find out that my Hound Dog's idea of a vacation is a long morning walk at about 6:30am (we normally try to sleep in.)

Those morning walks did give me a great opportunity to explore with my camera though. I shot over 38 rolls of photos while I was there, it was very relaxing. Of course, quantity by no means equals quality, but I hope to have a few nice shots for the site anyway! :-D You be the judge!

This shot is from a drive down Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) in the late afternoon on a hazy day. The haze and low sun made a beautiful golden glow. And, it was a particularly windy day, a few rain showers had just passed through which made for some nice waves.