Picture of the week

Rugged coast of Big Sur

Sea stacks along one of the more remote stretches of the Big Sur coast.  I have spied this particular location on previous travels through area, but have always been on my way somewhere else and in a hurry to get there.  This time I specificially planned a stop at this location for sunset photography, with the intent to capture this segment of the coast under better light.  Having budgeted to be on location one hour before sunset, a breaking storm ended up making the situation more difficult. The above image was captured while the sun momentarily hit this area between moving clouds.  By sunset, clouds obscured the horizon, limiting photo opportunities to some more carefully timed shots.  The wind was also blowing quite strong, limiting my ability for capture at slower shutter speeds despite the use of the tripod and shielding the camera with my body.  The image above was captured with my Canon EOS 5D mark III with the EF 24-105mm L f/4 lens with settings of ISO 400, f/11, and 1/50th of a second.

I traveled through here on my motorcycle from Sacramento down to San Luis Obispo along the Pacific Coast Highway, enroute to visit my brother and other family members gathered in the Thousand Oaks area for Thanksgiving.  The ride there (and back) was quite brisk, with some rain on the way down, and near freezing temperatures on the way back over the Los Padres mountains.  This trip also ended up being a useful test of my colder weather riding gear and physical tolerances for this sort of thing. All of which will be helpful in my planning next year for a motorcycle trip up to Alaska.  So far I have found with my current layering and motorcycle jacket/pants, I can sustain temperatures in the mid to upper forties in drier and sunny conditions for long periods of time. But below that, or when the humidity is higher due fog and clouds, then it is hard to maintain without starting to get a bit hypothermic after more than 30-60 minutes in these conditions.

All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2010-2015.  Last updated: 11/30/2015   ()