California Ain't Half Bad...

I took a trip to explore California, or at least a few places.  I had this idea in mind several months ago and I just decided I would do it last minute.


Here is what I discovered and captured... (read on)












It started off with a day trip to San Diego.  I love that town so much.  Its by the beach, just big enough and the people are chill.  I went hiking with a friend to a waterfall and then church the next day.  I took all the seats out of the back of my van and put an air mattress so I could just camp in my van.  That is definitely the coolest part of the trip.  Just go and camp wherever and see what you can find.

I then headed back to LA to take care of some quick business and then up north I headed.  I was going to make a loop - Santa Barbara, Davenport, San Francisco and then Yosemite.  However traffic on the 5 was terrible which was no surprise so I diverted to Yosemite first.

I got there as the sun was setting and was automatically taken back.  It was so unreal and impossible to describe.  How there was so much beauty in one place was beyond me.  I automatically did a comparison in my head.  This is God's idea of greatness while a city like LA is man's idea of greatness.  The difference is unmeasurable.

I quickly figured out that I couldn't explore everything so I just parked and found the falls by the valley.  There were so many photographers there and they were very cool and informative.  I set my camera up and did a few long exposures, catching the moon-bow.

I couldn't stay the night there so I decided to head towards San Francisco and sleep at the half-way point.  The surrounding areas of the park are awesome too.  Groveland was a small little town just outside the park and I think I might visit again.  

When I got to San Francisco I decided I didn't have the time to look at everything.  So I hit up a small coffee shop and got breakfast and then headed towards the bridge.  

I wish I had waited for the fog to roll in but I didn't, however I snagged this panorama before leaving.  It was an interesting town, cool hills and shops.





I was on to my main destination, Davenport.  The reason I wanted to come here is because I saw a picture of pylons from a pier that was no more.  I love this kind of stuff and wanted to do some long exposures.  This town was super small but also friendly.  There are nice beaches with cliffs and amazing rock formations everywhere.  I decided to stay the whole day here.  I went to the local restaurant and talked with people and ate.  Then the time came for me to start shooting.



I thought I would walk down to the beach but the trek down the cliff was basically suicide.  I wasn't going to be carrying my tripod and camera gear down there so I settled for something else.  I used my 85mm 1.8 to get the right length.  Its super sharp and I love using it.  This shot had an exposure time of 42 minutes.  Thats exactly what I wanted.  However you have to make sure you have everything right.  I had to manually focus and guess what the focus was because it was so dark.  I used a couple of tricks to figure it out though.  Then I estimated the exposure had to be over 30 minutes at least.  It was risky, would it pay off?

Yes it did!  Perfectly what I had in mind.  I was super happy with the shot and so I just packed up and left.
I was glad it worked out because I didnt have the battery power for a second picture.  I was also growing impatient.  Just try and sit there for an hour and see if the picture comes out right, its not easy.























My next stop was Big Sur.  I stopped on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere to sleep.  I awoke an hour later to cops knocking on the window.  I almost got arrested because apparently it was an Army Base.  I was allowed to go and I made my way to the spot which was only about 15 miles away.  The problem is I was running on fumes and I didn't realize it.  I had no clue where the nearest gas station was.  I was on the PCH and I would stop every so often to snap a picture.  I ran out of gas right at the gas station, so good timing.

I was in Ragged Point and had breakfast.  I also slept at the gas station.  It was yet another awesome small town with nice shops, literally two stores.  I'd like to visit again.  The surrounding area was spectacular.  Big Sur and areas like Vista Point are amazing to gaze at.  Plus there are national parks in that area where you can hike.  Speaking of which, I almost hit a mountain lion, thats never happened to me before.




I decided I would now head back to LA.  The time off served its purpose and I had work I needed to attend.  I noticed the stark contrast right away when I got back in the area.  It made me wonder, if you could choose any area in California, why would you choose to live in LA?  There is so much beauty everywhere.  The people and scenery are different.  It inspired me, it changed me.

California isnt that bad after all.