I photographed this minimalist seascape along the Pacific Ocean coastline south of San Francisco, California during the summer of 2006. One goal was to convey a sense of the space and distance in this scene, and the inclusion of the very small images of the gulls in the foreground was part of this. (You can find related images in my Gallery, particularly in the California Coast and Natural World sections.)
Photograph of Tuolumne Meadows with a stump and wildflowers in the foreground, the flooded meadow beyond, and area peak in the distance including Lembert Dome and Mounts Dana and Gibb.
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A small group gathers at Glacier Point to watch the sunset over Half Dome and Tenaya Canyon, Yosemite National park.
A small group of people gather along the edge of the cliff at Glacier Point to watch the sunset. This had been a much less wet winter than the current (2011) winter, and little snow is visible at the higher elevations even though it is early June.
Any visitor to the Valley should make a point of watching the sunset from this vantage point. Park visitors have been doing it for decades, and with good reason. From here the view includes the depths of Yosemite Valley, including some of the waterfalls and famous granite faces, Half Dome, the gorge of Tenaya Canyon, Mount Hoffman and the domes around North Dome, and out of the frame to the right the crest of the Sierra.
As I drove up the Pacific Coast Highway between Santa Cruz and San Francisco last weekend I came across a huge flock of gulls on a beach where a river flows into the ocean. As if they had just discovered an amusement ride for birds, the gulls dropped into the creek, rode it to the edge of the surf, took off to fly a loop back up the creek, and did this over and over.