The California Coastline - Lighthouse, Harbor Seals and Big Waves

Yesterday, I drove to the coast with my wife, my son and his girlfriend. While they were looking for agates and sea shells on the beach, I was out walking around with my Canon 5D Mark III looking for some photo opportunities.

I thought I would share a handful of images here with all of you.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105mm lens at 105mm, ISO 200, f/7.1, 1/1600 sec)

Initially we drove to Capitola and Santa Cruz, but really just stopped there for some lunch and then headed north on the always amazing Highway 1. After a 20 minute drive, we came up on Pigeon Point Lighthouse. I saw all the mustard plant which was blooming early this year an asked if we could stop for a minute. I took put on my Canon 24-105mm lens and got down low to the yellow flowers to have them fill the bottom of my frame. Even though the sky was not as pretty as I would have liked, it still made a nice shot.

Once the others were on the beach and happily doing their searching for treasure, I walked along a path to see what I could find. Out in the distance, I saw a grouping of Harbor Seals. Luckily, before starting this walk, I had switched to the Canon 28-300mm lens. I zoomed all the way to 300mm and got this shot.

There were some good size waves coming in, so I waited for a good swell and shot this photo. I purposely framed the shot to have the rock off center and the wave centered.

I wanted to get closer to the harbor seals, so I climbed along the rocks (very carefully since they are wet and sharp) to get a closer look. I saw this one pup and loved the way he was laying there, the same way that my dog, Cooper, rests his head on anything.

I got close to this grouping of seals and framed this shot to include them and the incoming waves. I wanted to hike in even closer, but noticed that the seals were starting to get spooked by me, and I backed off. I really did not want to interrupt them in their environment.

After backing off the seals, I noticed that a larger set of waves were coming in. I framed this shot with the seals off center, and waited for a big wave to crash against this large rock. I fired off numerous shots, and picked this one with the most dramatic action of the water.

I saw this one seagull hanging out. Normally I would not photograph this, but I liked the way that the white bird was framed by all the dark rocks.

And then it was back to the harbor seals who were still sunning themselves in the last couple hours of the day.

I walked back to the beach where my family was hanging out. I saw this formation in the rock and loved the tree shaped pattern, filled with the multicolored rock. Just another photographic day on the coast of Northern California. :)

Tomorrow we are going to spend some time in San Francisco with the family, and of course, I will have the camera in hand for any photo opportunities. Not a bad way to end 2016, with the whole family together once again.

Till then...

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