Monday, June 14, 2010

Point Montara Beach Kit Lens Fun

This past weekend was annoyingly hot so on Sunday I made my way out to the Half Moon Bay area for some much needed ocean breeze relief. After driving up and down the coast from HMB to Pacifica and back looking for a new spot to relax and take pictures at I decided to head to my favorite spot, Point Montara Lighthouse. I only wish I had done so at first because unlike every other beach spot which was crowded with parking and people this spot was nearly empty. As I made my way down to the beach area it was even more empty, in fact I was the only person there for the first 15 minutes or so. I easily had 100+ feet of beach area all to myself until two other people wandered down and hung out one of the hidden nooks by the mini waterfall/stream that flows into the ocean. And later a group of about a dozen people came down and had a picnic gathering but they stayed near the stream area as well so the entire 3 hours that I was there I had 90% of the beach to myself :)

I busted out my T2i with its less than stellar kit lens attached and committed to making the best of the situation.


I thought this was an interesting rock formation at the far end of the beach.


So I tried to get a lower angle of it and the waves and was a little TOO successful. See the foamy wave approaching on the left? Fractions of a second after I took this shot it soaked my pants and undies thoroughly with very cold water and motivated me to find some other scenery.


There was some cool sea life stuck to the rocks and I tried to get the best low DOF super bookah shot I could with the kit lens.


Then I came across some action, this little sea roach was crawling through the crevices until it saw me and tried to blend in.


I also played a game of "chicken" with the waves VS my camera, thankfully I have very quick reflexes and have done this several times before with other gear. Being able to judge when a foamy surge is going to make it to you is critical. I would have been less worried if this were a 7D with weather proofed and filter sealed lens.


After some more hunting for interesting shots I found this "critter" and he became my buddy/prop for a while.


I even posed him with some bits of sea vegetation with a scenic ocean backdrop. Until that scenic backdrop devoured my buddy/prop and nearly my camera.


Here is the last clip I got before ol'Diny was swept out to sea...

Lacking a prop I gave up taking pictures for a while and just sat back and enjoyed the sun and still nearly empty beach. I also at this point realized that I had left my extra batterys and memory cards at home and was running low on the one I had with me.


After a bit of rest I found a challenge in this composition, trying to get just the closest flower to be in focus. The sky was ultra blue at this angle.


And here is a shot of the "secret garden" at this beach. Even though I've been to this beach several times before this was the first for me getting to this area thanks to the receding tide. I still have yet to visit this area at super low tide since that usually seems to happen early in the morning.

In all it was a fun day and well worth the hour I spent in bumper to bumper traffic on the 92.

i <3 Half Moon Bay

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