Big Sur Coast with a LF camera

[ian_whitehead1]

Hello everyone, this is kind of travel question but I wanted to ask this group because I know when it comes to wind

small format and large format are completely different. I am asking if anyone hase done a fair amount of traveling to the

central coast of California, between Cambria and Carmel, to know if there is a month or so in the year when the skies are

not foggy and there is little or less wind. I have been in the middle of summer and have never seen the sun due to fog, and

I have been in the winter and spring and could not find much to shoot without wipping wind. Someone said

October......anybody have any experiance with this?

 

Thanks,

 

Ian

[jwallphoto]

Spring and fall can both be accommodating. The earlier in the day, the better. Get a fog forecast before you go. I'll bet today is great down there, but tomorrow the fog's supposed to come back in.

[RobertChura]

I have been several times and not a drop of fog. Just sunshine! Late August 95 and November 97 are two I remember

[big toys are better]

It's been a few years since I lived full time in the area, but I recall that May-June can often be very foggy on

the west coast, especially in the a.m. (something to do with the general weather pattern), and hot days inland

pull the coastal breezes into the inner valleys during the afternoons, especially during the summer and fall,

thereby also making the coast very foggy and wet. I've had good luck at various times of the year along the

coastal run from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz, but my favorites times to photograph the Central Coast region tend

to be April-May when the

wildflowers tend to be in bloom with colorful zest, and then later in the summer and into the autumn when the

grasses have dried and make for great B&W images.

 

The "rainy" season tends to start as the official winter hits-- December to March, and the weather can make the

roads hard to judge. However, the big waves those storms generate can create stunning images, but be wary of

rogue waves if you are ANYWHERE near the water's edge. I was on the Morro Bay breakwater in October of 1983,

taking pictures of the big waves crashing against the Morro Rock, when my peripheral vision luckily detected a

horizon change-- a very large rogue wave was rolling towards shore and about to inundate the breakwater. Someone

was photographing me as I was up there and I have a series of 3x5 prints showing me smiling and then running for

my life down the backside of the breakwater, and finally just disappearing under the wave as it crashed over the

breakwater. Not long after I was walking along the dunes on the north beach when another rogue hit, washing all

the way up the beach and into the dunes, and again inundating me up to my hips. but not into my camera bag. Most

of my gear survived without a problem due to the case I had it all in, but the one camera that was out (a 35mm

SLR) died shortly thereafter although the lens has always worked fine. I know that some others on the breakwater

got the full Monte from that first rough wave, but I don't know just how bad.

 

BTW, don't forget to visit Montana de Oro State Park in Los Osos/Morro Bay area, and be sure to travel up & down

the side roads between U.S. 1 to U.S. 101 so see the changes in weather and terrain that their altitude changes

wrought. Should it be foggy, do remember

that this was the weather that Ansel Adams and the Weston family loved to work in when on the coast.<div></div>

[big toys are better]

Oops-- I guess my file data is incorrect, Leesa had it developed the next day and from the date stamp on the print I see that that it was in November (which makes sense since that is when the big winter storms have begun forming up north).....

[john_galuszka]

Here is one of my posts at (msn groups) BigSurPhotos:

 

========================================

 

Rain

 

Wind

 

Thunder

 

Lightning

 

Huge waves

 

Rock slides

 

...

 

a tipical Big Sur winter weekend and ...

 

...a good opportunity to take photos.

 

I'll put a new one in the photo section, taken Feb. 24th, late afternoon ...

 

================================================

 

 

I have been shooting here for more than 20 years, and there is no "best time." My philosophy is: the worse the weather, the better the photography.

 

Example: the coast is completely fogged in ... but ... if you hike up to 1500 or 2000 feet elevation, you might get some etherial fog-whisps-through-the redwoods, or a spectacular nebelmeer sunset.

 

You need to get off the highway and find the out-of-the-way spots.

 

More sample Big Sur photos at www.XtremeDigitalPhotography.com. Check the dates of the photos and you will see what you can get and when.

 

(Suggestion: Cape San Martin looking north at 9AM with clouds in the sky ... but beware the poison oak!)

 

John

 

Gorda Piedmont

 

Big Sur

[john_galuszka]

UPDATE:

 

Don't think about visiting now !!!!

 

We have three active fires. Hyw. 1 is closed. There is heavy smoke down into San Louis Obispo county. Fire and emergency people have priority over tourists for the next few weeks at the least.

 

We aren't getting sunsets, we are getting smoke sets!<div></div>

[john_wood3]

<p>Late March, then wait until October. (Nice pic above)</p>