Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

• Saint Francis de Sales.

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This was the last stop we had on our way back home from the 4th of July road trip. The McWay falls, pride of the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Big Sur. I have been here before but it was early morning and the lighting was all weird. I had high hopes about this time as I timed the trip perfectly so that we reached here right during the golden hour. But alas nature had other plans and by the time we reached the location there was thick fog which was coming in from the Pacific which had completely blotted out the sun and muted the brilliant colors of the water and the sky while we were there.

Only consolation was that there were less people around and the light, if any, was soft and even. The only way I could make I interesting was to employ the help of my trusted LEE Big Stopper, which helped me to blur the waves nicely and soften the ocean completely. While processing the image I was a bit stunned to see the complete lack of color on the rocks near the falls, as I remember the rocks and the green moss were spectacularly vivid the last time I visited. I was messing around the picture settings and tried converting them to B&W and the image came to life. I added a bit of contrast and structure and the image, to me at least, suddenly became all the more interesting. I generally am not into B&W photography but I do realize some shots look miles better when they are in B&W.

Hope you all like it…

• Henry David Thoreau.

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Foggy afternoon at McWay falls in the Big Sur area of Southern California. This was taken at the last leg of our Fourth of July road trip. We got a thick fog cover by the afternoon and some really dim light instead of the usually brilliant afternoon light. I didn’t have a clue how temperamental the Pacific can be in the West coast. So I tried some interesting framing tryouts to make the pics a bit interesting and used a Lee Big Stopper to get water to have some blurry motion.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week.

• Matsuo Basho.

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This photo was taken just before thick dense fog destroyed my third attempt to capture the Big Sur coast line in glorious golden hour Light. When I moved to California, I was dead certain on making Big Sur my first location and capturing as many photos of the location in brilliant sunset light. I also made it a point to be here too but the first time we visited we had to pass through the coastal highway early in the noon time and the strong sun pretty much washed away most of my shots. Second time it was a giant boulder the size of my car that completely blocked out the highway and closed the road for days. The third time I made sure it will be evening when it drove by and also checked the Cal Trans website repeatedly for any issues but completely forgot about the seasonal thick fogs that completely envelop the coast and the ocean.

This shot was taken at the Julia Pfeiffer State Park just before the fog cover came in. Thanbks for visiting have a good day.

• Winston Churchill.

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This was the third time I have been to this location and the past two times I was curtailed by any type of interesting light and the third time it was so foggy we could only hear the ocean. So I had given up hope about getting a good shot here and was almost certain that the light is gonna be bad. But when I reached the location it was clear and the light was coming in nicely. So I made a Panorama stitch with about 6 shots together. I can just imagine how beautiful this location will be at sunset and can’t wait to be here to get an image at a sunset.

Thanks for visiting, have a great day..

• Ausonius.

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One of the star attractions of the Big Sur trip is the stunning Mcway falls locate at the Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park. I have captured some nice images at this location but never managed a spectacular sunset or sunrise shot from here. Every single time I tried to land a shot sunset shot here, it was either cloudy or rainy. So when we were planning the Big Sur trip last weekend, I kind of hoped for a great sunset here and slotted the location into our trip plan accordingly.

While driving to the location, I noticed that there were some clouds but there was also the ever-threatening presence of the fog over the ocean. While we were at the park, I noticed that a lot of the roadside parking that was previously allowed were now strictly marked off limits and the random paths people use as a shortcut to join the main trail has also been fenced off. So, you must take the slightly longer trail from the inside of the state park. I was glad to see these changes and to see the park authorities are an act against the rampant misuse of this stunning little park. Finally, as we were on the trail’s end, we realized that due to the conditions that made the trail unstable they have fenced off about half of the trail and the traditional viewpoint is now closed. Photogs are now forced to take the shots from the middle of the trail, which still provides a good view of the falls and the cove but is not the best viewpoint for the fall. Sill, it was a beautiful composition and the elements worked together to make up for it by giving us one of the most spectacular sunsets we have ever seen. I was so excited to finally get a colorful shot here and to really enjoy this fantastic moment.

• Henry Ward Beecher.

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One of the best sunset shots I took last year was at a location that is not known for sunsets and sunrises. If you are visiting Big Sur, seeing Mcway falls is an easy task. Julia Pfieffer Burns state park that’s home to this unique waterfall is easily accessible from the Pacific coast highway and the hike to the viewpoint is just a few hundred feet away from your parked car. If any the only struggle usually is to find a legal parking spot, especially after the park authorities started the crackdown on illegally parked vehicles.

While visiting this spot for the first time, I could imagine how spectacular it would look with some great sunset colors in the sky. Unfortunately for me, I had hard luck with sunsets at this location because it's mostly a hit or miss with the fog. So I was super excited when all the conditions lined up during our last trip. I had a decent spot where I could position myself and the fog was completely absent with some great clouds by the horizon. I took this shot when the sun broke through the clouds and gave me chance to shoot a Sunstar. I had the 24-70 lens on and used a smaller aperture but due to the rounded aperture blade design on modern lenses, all I managed was a weak Sunstar.

This is one of my complaints about modern lens design, while rounded aperture blades coupled with a higher number of blades give you smooth bokeh pretty much the opposite gives a great rendering of bright light sources in the frame. I am not sure if providing smooth bokeh on a wide lens should be a priority. Anyway, enough ranting I used a 2 stop ND grad for this shot and waited for the perfect wave before pressing the shutter button and taking this shot. Hope you all like it.

• Charles Lamb.

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McWay Falls is an 80-foot waterfall located in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park that flows year-round. Like Alamere Falls, this waterfall is one of only two in the region that are close enough to the ocean to be referred to as "tidefalls". It is located on McWay Creek and is one of the few waterfalls that empty directly into the ocean.

Took this capture on our Big Sur trip, unfortunately, we made it there by morning and the sun was really bright and the falls were in the shadows with some fog still hanging around. I sure want to return here under better conditions soon.

• Paul Cezanne.

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Mcway Falls is one of the major attractions along the pacific coast highway. It's what makes the Julia Pfeiffer state park one of the most visited locations on the California coast. But just as you enter the park, a small pullout provides a dramatic view of the coast to the south. Over the years, I have tried many times to capture this vista point's grandness without success. After a bit of trial and error, it seemed like the wide-angle focal length I was using was the main culprit. It stretched the perspective and accentuated the distance between the foreground and the background, making it a rather lackluster snapshot.

So I tried a different approach, this time with my 70-300 tele lens. I stitched nine images together at 116mm, recreating approximately the same field of view of a wide shot. The results were much more to my liking. As you can see from the image, the scene looked much more realistic and had a more natural feel. I took the images at noon as a test, and once I saw the results on my computer was determined to retake the shot with better lighting. Unfortunately, that never happened, but I felt like this image warranted a place in my portfolio for its merits, even if the light is not optimal. And who knows, one day, I might get a chance to return and make that shot that has been bouncing around in my head.

• Idowu Koyenikan.

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After about four trips to the Big Sur coast, I realized that the winter months are the best time to visit the area. The only exception is if it's been raining heavily as it can cause large landslides. Even bigger of a challenge is to pick an area to concentrate on a trip. This area is just too large to cover in one trip and breaking it up is the only way you can do justice to the area and its beautiful locations.

Just before we moved from California, I decided to make a trip to the coast and get that sunset shot of the McWay falls that always eluded me. We drove straight to the northernmost attractions of the Big Sur coastline and just stuck to three locations. We covered Point Lobos reserve, Garrapata State Park, and McWay Falls. Unfortunately, while the conditions seemed to be perfect, they had experienced a landslide and has closed down some areas restricting the access to the prime shooting spots. I have posted multiple shots from that day and I think this one is the last from the series.

• Ansel Adams.

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Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is known all over the world for McWay falls. Its waterfall that drains directly into the pacific ocean in a dreamy cove setting and is incredibly picturesque. But it doesn't mean that it’s the only photo op at this stunning state park. About three to four thousand feet north of McWay falls is vista point with a pullout, and it also has some fantastic views that can blow you away, especially if you are looking south.

During many of my visits to the park, I was incredibly obsessed with getting a great shot of the mcWay falls, and this viewpoint got very little attention from me. While going over some of my old images, I recently found this panorama that I captured of the view and decided to try my luck editing it. The final results show how stunning a spot this is, even though I am using a completely wrong focal length for the shot.