The California Coast

We have just returned from a month on the California Coast. What a great place for photography. The weather could not have been better. We started with a week in Oceanside with a condo looking out on the Oceanside South Pier. Spectacular sunsets!

Next we moved on to Pacific Grove just south of Monterey. Again we had a view of the Pacific from our VRBO rental home. Walk across the street and you have a wonderful walking trail along the ocean with unlimited photo opportunities. During our stay we spent several days driving the 17 Mile route between Pacific Grove and Carmel. The images from the 18 green at Pebble Beach tell you everything you need to know about the wave action on this coast. We also made a couple of trips north to Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay to check out the surfing scene.

After Pacific Grove it was on to Rancho Mirage for a week in the desert. (I know the gallery is entitled "The California Coast" but please cut me some slack here) We ended up the trip with 4 days in San Diego to take some final pictures but mostly to watch our 17 year old granddaughter compete in the USA Cross Country team qualifying event in Mission Park.

Certainly, California is faced with some huge fiscal problems, but it is still one of the most beautiful and diverse places on earth. It's also a great place to be when it's 25 degrees in San Antonio.

This last week I've wandered around the Texas Hill country looking for images for a bank project I'm currently putting together. It never fails...I sit in my studio thinking about what images I should look for and after being out there I find much better images than all my planning prepared me for. The moral of the story is there is very little inspiration to be found sitting in front of a computer. There are unlimited possibilities once you leave the studio and enter the great outdoors. The pity is that I have learned this lesson many times and I still spend way too much time and energy in the studio.