Rocky Inlet and Surf. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. April 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Surf washes through a rocky inlet at Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

Yes, yet another photograph from the Day of No Tourists at Point Lobos in late April – when almost no one was there due to the closure of Highway One for the Big Sur Marathon. This little inlet/cove is not far from where I photographed the harbor seal family. I’m pretty certain I’ve visited this exact feature before, but this is the first time I’ve tried to photograph it. (I have photographed some very nearby features – they are actually visible from the same camera position.) The light was very flat – it was overcast and gray from fog – and the colors of these particular rocks did not look like they would work well in a color image, so I decided to go with black and white here. The use of a rather dark neutral density filter – that’s what allowed the long exposure – also alters to color balance in some odd ways. I made several exposures of this spot since it is virtually impossible to predict just how a long exposure of water will turn out.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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