Crescent City Sunset. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
The sun sets beyond evening clouds and sea stacks along the Pacific Coast at Crescent City, California.
Earlier this month we got away for a few days of photography in far Northern California — the redwood country, but also the never-far-away coast. We stayed in Crescent City the first couple of nights, just below the Oregon border, since this place provides good access to several of the redwood parks. The days are very long in far Northern California at this time of year, and even with several hours of morning photography and several hours of work in the evening, there is a lot of “in between time.” On this day we decided to enjoy an early dinner in town before heading out for evening photography. Eventually we worked our way to this spot along a bluff at the edge of town.
I had a particular subject in mind when we arrived, but the conditions were evolving in a somewhat unexpected way. A weak weather front was approaching from the northwest, and it was clear that its cloud shield was going to block the sun as it descended toward the horizon. I made a few quick exposures in pseudo-evening light, and then the light went gray. It was difficult to say for sure, but it looked like there might be a gap between the bottom of the clouds and the ocean, and in anticipation of the sun’s light coming through that gap right at sunset I quickly moved to a different location that placed this sea stack with its small tree in line with some more distant rocks and the likely position of the setting sun.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
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:-)
The process was to make that first photograph as quickly as I could, since I realized that the light was about to go. (In fact, the frame after the one you saw had already lost most of the good light.) And then I immediately switched to a different lens and took off on foot along the bluff to where I lined up the sea stacks with the point of the sunset.
Very nice! Now the “mystery” has been solved! Both photos from this day are beautiful and would look great framed side-by-side. The minute by minute changes in the sky are unbelievable!! thanks for posting!