“Shoreline Trees, Clearing Fog” — Fog clears above a grove of coastal trees at Point Lobos.
the best light usually comes early and late in the day. It often has a warmer coloration, and it can be softer than the midday light coming from high overhead. And there’s a good chance that morning fog and mists may linger. But eventually, on most days, the “good light” period passes and the morning’s work is done. It was that time as I began to make my way back to the trailhead, feeling that the morning’s best light was leaving. But then I saw this row of dense trees along the rocky edge above the water, with a hint of clearing fog in the background.
“Monterey Cypress Forest” — Fog drifts across a Point Lobos landscape of Monterey cypress trees.
This grove of leaning and twisted trees lines the upper edge of a steep, rocky Point Lobos cliff that drops straight to a small bay. You can see the beginning of the slope in the photograph, but if you walked past the trees in this scene you would seen be at the precipice. I made the photograph in one of my favorite light conditions. It had been foggy — the thick, gray kind of fog — but now it was thinning and opening up to let in soft, filtered sunlight. The fog still partially obscures the more distant trees on the far side of the little bay.
“Old Cypress” — An old Monterey cypress tree at Point Lobos, California.
The Monterey cypress trees at Point Lobos are rugged and diverse specimens. This is no forest of uniform Sierra Nevada trees. Each tree seems to have its own personality, formed by its exposure to light, proximity to cliffs, age, and the wind. Aside from the fact that they often grow in groves, many of them remind me of the stunted and twisted trees found at timberline in the highest mountains.
“Monterey Cypress Trees, Cliffs and Surf” — Pacifc surf crashes against the base of cliffs with Monterey cypress trees.
Point Lobos and I go back a long ways. Shortly after my parents moved to the San Francisco Bay Area — I was four years old then — they began to take us on interesting day trips. A favorite was going to Monterey, which was a much smaller and quieter place then. A highlight of those visits was traveling a few miles south to Point Lobos, where we explored tide pools, walked the trails, and watched sea lions. This was one of the first places where I began to make photographs, likely with a simple Brownie camera and some black and white film.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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