The attractive community of Carmel by the Sea retained its small town charm in spite of a booming real estate bubble. It encompasses two of the finest beaches in Northern California and the most expensive housing market outside Malibu, turning Carmel into a playground for the rich and very rich.
Upscale Carmel also attracts affluent tourists, who pamper themselves in the expensive cottages and spend their days shopping in boutique stores.
Charming beach communities like Capitola are rare in Northern California. The city is famous for its laid-back atmosphere, surfers, and hip downtown bars at the water’s edge. Capitola is the perfect escape for busy Bay Area residents who slip out of their business suits for the weekend, partially envious of the aging surfing hippies that never sold out.
Fun in the sun, a beer at the beach on Zelda’s patio, the best slice of pizza you can get with sandy, naked feet, or a late night flirty Margarita at the Margaritaville, these are some of the simple pleasures Capitola has to offer. You will not have any trouble convincing your family members to join you for this trip.
Belmont Shore offers the relaxed Southern California Beach atmosphere you expect when you visit this neck of the world. CSI Miami fans may feel a strange déjà vu here.
Fear not, you neither are in the Matrix nor have you teleported to Florida, you simply stumbled on the secret filming locations for the show. Looking through my sunset pictures, I realized David Caruso’s hair is not to blame for CSI Miami’s characteristic orange tint, but rather the Southern California sun.
You will find palm lined promenades, spectacular sunsets, and a photogenic pier. A perfect picture, if the trash, stray dogs, and dirt would not spoil it otherwise. You can avoid most of those imperfections in your pictures, but you can find better places to hang out for the day.
Only the advent of affordable transatlantic flights put an end to the dominance of the great ocean liners. The Queen Mary, larger and more powerful than the Titanic, crossed the Atlantic Ocean 1,001 times. During one of these crossings during World War II, she carried American Troops establishing a record of the most people ever carried on a vessel that still stands today.
Impressive size, stateliness, and scenery still characterize this impressive ship, even after its conversion into a Long Beach hotel. You can tour the ship and discover the magic of the great ocean liners, of an area where the wealthy traveled in style.
Located beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, Fort Point’s spectacular views are legendary. The civil war fort that once protected the entrance to the San Francisco Bay also boasts historic exhibits and demonstrations and occasionally civil war re-enactments.
Fort Point has endured the times and is now a popular tourist attraction, providing education and exceptional photographic value. Joseph Strauss incorporated the fort into the design of the Golden Gate Bridge in order to preserve this historic site for future generations. From the top of the fort, you can almost touch the bridge arch, spanning across the fort and creating a perfect harmony of semi-modern bridge and historic fort.
The Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz compresses numerous coastal attractions into a small, protected area. Here you can visit one of California’s Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries, watch migrating whales, spot a sea otter, discover amphibian life in the tide pools, view wildflowers or just take in the spectacular cliffs of the California coastline.
Natural Bridges State Beach is easy to photograph and a pleasure to explore. The visitor center offers a free map and valuable information about the park. The beach is easily accessible and the coastal climate is pleasant, even on hot days. The park is also a Mecca for beach lovers. It bustles with beachgoers and BBQ parties on warm days. Bring your bathing suit if you are up for a little refreshment.
The affluent beach community of Shell Beach, north of Pismo Beach provides a convenient scenic stop along Highway 101. The sunsets here are more vivid than elsewhere, the air is fresher and the water cleaner.
Gorgeous ocean-view hotels, seaside restaurants, and large residences occupy the small space between Highway 101 and the cliffs of the Pacific Coast. Below these cliffs, tide pools reveal an intriguing variety of amphibian life.
Nearby, at Pelican Point and Shelter Cove, you will find a colony of Pelicans and have superb views of the sea and Pismo Beach.
Nature’s last stand, amidst the Southern California urban jungle, is Torrey Pines, a park that protects a rare pine tree and migrating birds. Sheltered from covetous developers encroaching on the beaches of this beautiful land, the park still suffers from overcrowding.
With its plentiful natural beauty, the park attracts large crowds of city dwellers seeking a temporary relief from their urban lifestyles. The constant “xcuse-me” of the nation’s densest gathering of joggers, paired with noisy city dwellers, make finding solitude impossible and concentrating on photography difficult. Hold on to your equipment when you float down the trails in a sea of people and do not try to swim upstream!
The old proverb, all colors will agree in the dark, is obsolete since the advent of color photography. In her infinite wisdom, Mother Nature gave us good eyesight at night. The reduced color vision is a small price to pay to see in the dark and not be eaten.
Then men invented color photography.
Now we can increase exposure time but retain color sensitivity in the dark. Suddenly, night is vibrantly colorful. The different color temperatures of the varied artificial light sources produce a wide color spectrum only visible to the camera. It is easy to dazzle viewers with night photography. Reason enough to explore the energetic city of San Diego at night.
Night photography is easy. A sturdy tripod, a cable release and patience will get you very good reproducible results. The additional effort keeps the competition away and the streets empty for your work.
San Diego is an appealing city to photograph at night. The San Diego Bay provides a splendid reflecting pool, the old gas lamps arrange for color and the varied subjects ensure diversity. Consider a night out on your next photo tour and take advantage of the changeling city.
As the official title “Surf City USA” states, Huntington Beach is the self-proclaimed surfing capital of the United States. The most photogenic landmark in Huntington Beach is, without a doubt, the Huntington Beach Pier. Stretching out into the vast Pacific Ocean from the intersection of Main St. and Pacific Coast Highway, the pier is the hub of beach life in Huntington Beach. And, as most people who have visited the long stretches of beaches in Southern California know, the addition of a pier actually adds some photographic interest to your pictures rather than just the long and endless drab blue green ocean stretching off for parts unknown.
Whether your interest is dramatic landscapes and sunsets, street photography, or action sports, you can usually find something of photographic interest at the Huntington Beach Pier.
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