The Old Cypress. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.
A gnarled old Monterey cypress, Point Lobos State Reserve.
After sufficient decades wandering about in favorite parts of the natural world, I have become personal friends with a few rocks, trees, creeks, and other features in various places. I’m not sure that there’s much logic to which ones caught my attention, and you might pass by quite a few of them without noticing. They could be spots where I first saw something in a particular way, a tree that sheltered me as I waited out a rain shower, a place where I spread out my sleeping bag, a scene where I have paused for years, or almost anything.
This Monterey cypress tree is on that list. It is visible from a short, dead-end spur trail at Point Lobos, and these days you have to duck under low trees and watch out for poison oak as you approach. The tree is on the other side of a little valley at the end of a small cove, and it clings to rocks near the top of a cliff. It teases me by being a bit difficult to photograph. In the best location there isn’t really enough space to set up a tripod, at least not if you want to avoid the poison oak. And just beyond the tree lies a trail, and inevitably a large party passes by at just the moment when I want to make an exposure.
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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Thanks to both of you!
As to how I worked around the challenges, while I made a few exposures from a less-than-ideal camera position where I could set up the tripod, eventually I worked from the more cramped spot where that wan’t possible, and I used the tripod more like a monopod.
Dan
A Point Lobos classic. Nicely captured Dan.
This is a great photo! lLove the angle. How did you end up getting it since you had a lot of disadvantages in that particular spot?