I had the pleasure of attending an Out of Chicago event this last full week of March in Monterrey, California. It was a wonderful 4 days of creative photographic immersion with incredibly talented instructors and equally talented attendees. Each day there were hours of photo outings to spectacular places. I don’t know how many “great” photos will come from those sessions as it takes more than just a great place to create a great photo. But I am confident, that out of the hundreds, nay, thousands of photos that were taken in those 4 days, a few keepers will emerge. Over the next few weeks and months, I hope to find more photos from those four days to share.
This will be a short post as I wanted to contrast the conditions at the same spot just 24 hours apart.
On my last full day at the workshop we spent the late afternoon at Weston Beach in Point Lobos State Natural Reserve (a beautiful spot for some fantastic abstract photos, which will have to wait for another post), then headed to a spot further south to overlook the rocks and mountains leading to Big Sur. While at Weston Beach, the clouds were grey and a few sprinkles of rain fell. The hopes of a dramatic sunset at our final destination for the day were dimming. Since you never know if a sunset will be grand until it’s grand (or not) we packed up from Weston Beach and headed south.
Our destination was a bluff about 100 feet (30 m) above the ocean looking down a steep embankment at waves crashing into rocks. There was an unobstructed view to the south at more rocks, waves, and much higher mountains in the distance. The mountains to the south rose to 1,500 feet elevation (450 m) just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the waters edge. Very dramatic. We arrived at our destination about 30 minutes before sunset with grey clouds but no rain. To the west, the clouds were thick and it seemed highly unlikely the sun would make an appearance. Ten minutes before sunset it looked like a few breaks in the clouds would form due south over the mountains on the edge of the ocean. Then, right at sunset, with dark clouds and no sun to the west, the clouds broke to the south and the image below was created.
Looking at this scene with an unobstructed view to the west, I thought how colorful it would look with a setting sun visible on the horizon, shining on the cliffs before me. But this was not that sunset.
The next day, the workshop ended at noon leaving us free to explore the area on our own after lunch. The rain from the previous day had ended and clouds had mostly dissipated. We retraced our path from the previous day with a stop at Weston Beach before proceeding to that same spot on a bluff above the ocean looking south at the rocks.
We arrived at the bluff above the ocean about the same time as the previous day, 30 minutes before sunset. But this time, there was a mix of clouds and blue sky with the sun sometimes behind clouds, sometimes shining brightly. Looking to the west, the sun was behind a cloud but it looked like breaks in the clouds were close to the horizon. I took a few pictures and waited. 20 minutes before sunset, the sun remained behind a cloud. 15 minutes before sunset, still no sun. Then 10 minutes before sunset the sun emerged.
What a difference a day makes. 24 hours ago my mind imagined an image with the sun shining on the cliffs. And here I was, brilliant sunshine, red cliffs, green hills, green/blue ocean, waves crashing on rocks.
Sunsets are fickle. You never know what you are going to get until you get it, or don’t.
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