El Capitan Beach, CA
By admin On September 11th, 2009
El Capitan beach, to me, is the place where Southern California starts looking a little more like Northern California. It’s still quite south, I know. But- the rockiness of the coastlines and the wildness of the waves, it just has that crispness to it. Whereas if you go South just 25 minutes, everything seems a little bit balmier.
My very pregnant wife and I were driving around looking for the perfect strip of beach for me to expose this “shift-in-beachiness” that I have described above. Actually, if I remember correctly, I believe my wife was more complaining that she was tired and hungry and, well, to be honest, she was not much of a help in finding the shot. It was becoming perfectly clear that her need for a burger was outweighing my need for a great photo. In other words, time was ticking.
I had to hurry this whole ordeal along for another reason too, the sun was setting fast and the tide was rising. Two things in my favor. Not. I had maybe 30 minutes to find a place, set up, and get the shot I needed. This was not going to happen (was it?) I pulled into a campsite parking lot as my last hope and ran down to the shore to get a look. It was perfect! The sun was moments away from hitting the ocean in that magical, glowing way. A shot for which my favorite film Fuji Velvia 50 ISO is made. There was no sand, just beautiful smooth black rocks bathing in the blues and silvers of the rising tide. QUICK GET THE GEAR!!! I had brought my faithful Pentax 6/7 and my 105 mm lens. If I could just catch the shot in time. I ran back to the car, ran back down to the beach. Click, click, click. Ran back to the car. Throw gear in (gently). Drive wife quickly to In and Out Burger. Out of the way people! 8 month pregnant first time mom coming through! Double-double, fries, shake. Done.