Mendocino County

• Gilbert K. Chesterton.

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The Point Arena Lighthouse is a lighthouse located in the Mendocino county of California. My first encounter with the lighthouse was during our trip that covered northern California and Crater Lake National Park. This lighthouse is a bit of a detour from the Pacific coast highway, so I didn’t have much hope about the photo opportunities here, but the view was just stunning. Unfortunately, the lighthouse was closed, and we had places to be before nightfall, so we only spend a little time at this beautiful location.

A couple of years later, I was back, and this time, I was determined to get a good sunset shot of the lighthouse. Only when we reached the gate did we realize that they have changed the open hours of the lighthouse and now it closed way earlier than the sun usually sets. So disappointing day but we decided to stick to the one viewpoint that’s outside the gates of the lighthouse and shoot it with the massive tidal pools leading up to the lighthouse.

• Robert Delaunay.

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Another shot from the Point Cabrillo Light Station along the Mendocino coast of Northern California. This little lighthouse is located in such an interesting location that the photo opportunities here are just endless. The first time we were here was during sunset and as soon as I noticed the Fresnel lens in the lighthouse I decided to come back once night falls to get the strong beam these lenses are known to cast against the night sky.

When we returned after dinner I was not disappointed, the lighthouse indeed had a blindingly strong beam from nearby and any type of star photography was gone as the light from the lighthouse was just two strong. I was not discouraged though as there was still some light in the sky that my camera could see and I used it to shoot the strong light beam of the lighthouse against the colors in the sky.

• Eugene Ionesco.

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Small coastal towns of California's north coast are some of my absolute favorite places to visit. One town seems to emerge as our favorite when I look back at all the photos I took in the past years. The town's name is Mendocino. With almost a limitless number of coves, beaches, lighthouses, redwood groves, and wild rivers nearby to photograph, it's not a surprise that Mendocino has become our basecamp for our NorCal excursions.

Thanks to its Instagram fame, the cypress tree tunnel of Point Reyes is a famous location for photographers. Most photographers do not realize that tree tunnels are not that uncommon along the northern coast. Near the coastal town of Elk, the Pacific Coast Highway goes through a cypress grove. Now it's not as easy to compose an image here like Point Reyes. There is a small pullout for viewing the grove. The pullout also gives a nice view of the ocean and the haystacks near the shore. Since I had plans for the sunset, I settled for a quick panorama composition. Some electric wires go along the road, making the composition a bit difficult. What came as a complete surprise was a soft layer of fog diffusing the late evening light.

• Henry Miller.

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The first ever trip I took to the California coast was in winter, but you could have very easily mistaken it for late spring elsewhere in the eastern seaboard. We drove lazily down to Los ageless from Santa Cruz and saw spectacular cliffs and amazing blue green waters and beautiful coves. In my naivety, I dreamed about coming back in summer and shooting amazing landscape shots and later enjoying the beach. Little did I realize what was waiting when I returned later that year, the ocean was cold and grey just like the sky and all the great vistas look drab and dull as the sun get blocked out by thick fog.

So when we visited the Mendocino coast this summer I was hoping and praying for a fogless few days but as usual we didn’t had any such luck. But what I noticed was that the fog was staying in late in the morning as the mountains and trees blocked the sun till well into noon and the evening fog was coming in just around sunset time. So the trick was to get to your location about 2 hours before sunset and you will get wonderfully diffused light due to the thin layer of fog.

While I was taking this shot the light was absolutely gorgeous and I was really happy with the warm tones on the cliffs and cold tones of the ocean. But when I saw it on the computer it looked like focus was off at first glance, something highly unlikely as I usually shoot at f8. But on closer inspection it seemed as if the thin layer of fog was causing the slightly softer look and I loved how the sunlight plays on the rocky cliffs.

A long exposure stack using the Smooth Reflections App at Sea Lion Cove along the California Coast.

• Samuel Johnson.

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On Memorial day weekend when the opportunity came to do an extended trip, my wife and I scoured over the internet for a cheap hotel deal but was rather unpleasantly surprised to learn that even our two week advance booking strategy wouldn’t get us anywhere. So after much deliberations and discussing the proximity of wine country nearby I managed to convince my wife to go on a four day camping trip to the beautiful Mendocino coast.

As a lighthouse lover, one of my primo spots was the Point Cabrillo lighthouse located very close to Fort Bragg, CA on a piece of stunning coastline. We were right on time for a sunset shot when we reached the parking lot but the light house is a good mile away from the lot and low summer fog in the horizon made the sunset a bit earlier than predicted by the various apps I use. And as I reached the lighthouse the setting sun was painting the lighthouse in glorious golden hues and I happily snapped away. This was one of the best shots I got from my initial location.

• Aeschylus.

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Another shot of the beautiful and photogenic Point Cabrillo lighthouse along the Pacific coast near the charming town of Fort Bragg. We planned this as a last minute trip and were not very successful getting hold of a hotel room for our stay. So we decided to car camp rather than stay home and found a trailer park near the coast that had camping sites available.

It was a really pleasant trip and we managed to explore the Mendocino Coast. I had some shots of the coast planned but the summer fog and the tide timings were difficult to coordinate. Point Cabrillo lighthouse was one of the redeeming spots along the coast, It has a ridiculous number of interesting viewpoints. This one is a panorama shot I made in front of the lighthouse about 5 minutes after the sun went completely down and everyone left the sport for the parking lot.

• Walter Scott.

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Bowling Ball beach in northern California provides ample fodder for ball-based puns and double-entendres. Keeping it mild, and since it's just after...

• Margaret Mead.

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It’s almost a year and a half since I took this picture during a camping trip to the Mendocino coast. We spend 4 nights by the ocean camping inside a cool forest under gigantic trees. The initial plans we made for exploring the beach and some of the coastal formations fell through when we learned about the summer fog and the issues with Tide timings.

Fortunately, my love for lighthouses came to rescue and we decided to spend a nice sunset at the Point Cabrillo lighthouse. This little lighthouse provided so many interesting photos. I hope you enjoy the shot as much as I did spending time at this beautiful little nook of California.

• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

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The first time I laid eyes on the Point Cabrillo lighthouse, I knew I was a fan. As a lighthouse lover, this particular fall had everything, a unique architecture, fantastic landscape with photo possibilities from north and south vantage points, and tons of character. I spend the whole sunset here, capturing some good sunset shots of the lighthouse. Thankfully we had a fogless evening and I thought I could push my luck and get away with a night sky shot as well. It took some doing, but I convinced my wife to return to the lighthouse after dinner.

I was not a great night sky photographer in 2016, but my enthusiasm more than made up for my lack of skills. I had this great shot in mind of the lighthouse with the lit beam against the starry sky and, if possible, the Milkyway core. Things didn’t go according to my plan. First, the milky way rises from the eastern sky, so I would have to wait till 3-4 am to get the milky way where I wanted. Secondly, I didn’t have a wide enough focal length for the image I had in mind. But none of these was the biggest hurdle. That was my utterly baffled mind when I dialed in my settings and got a shot I was not expecting. After I got back home, I realized why the faint light from the lighthouse beacon was overpowering the scene. Thankfully I had taken enough shots to try some composites, and this one seems to work, not exactly the image I had in mind but close enough.

• Albert Einstein.

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California’s northern coast is one of my favorite places to visit. Even with such huge metropolises to the south, this part of the state still feels untouched and primordial. We have had many trips up the coast, stopping at tiny parking lots and accessing some amazing hidden beaches. On one such trip to the North coast, we came across the Greenwood Creek state beach, a relatively small beach with a couple of massive sea stacks just off the coast. There is a nice hiking trail providing you with a beautiful view of the cove and the Gunderson Rock sea stack.

Usually, the water in this bay is so clear you can see the brilliant green color. We visited on a summer evening, so I had to keep an eye on the Marine layer coming in from the ocean. From previous experiences I have had at the coast, I knew the summer fog would ruin any chance of a sunset shot. But thankfully, the fog layer was so thick it diffused the sunlight giving the whole scene a lovely ethereal feel. I delayed taking the image as much as possible, but the wind started to pick up, and waves started to muddy the waters. I didn’t end up getting that perfect clear water photo, but I feel lucky to get this image with gorgeous light and some of the massive natural forces that make the coast of California special.

• Walt Whitman.

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I have been a little behind with posting pics to Flickr recently due to an unplanned visit from my family and frankly taking them around along with working full time has taken most of my time. With my family leaving soon I should be able to get some free time to work on some of the undeveloped images in my computer from our recent trips.

This shot is from our trip to Mendocino coast in California. This was taken near the Point Cabrillo lighthouse as I was wandering around for good view points. We had a pretty cloudless sky that day which would normally make unbearably strong light at the beginning of golden hour but due to the marine layer which the California coast is famous for, the light was wonderfully diffused and warm. While walking around I saw these colorful flowers by the cliff north of the lighthouse with a nice view of a rocky cove. The colors on the water and the light on the rocks were unbelievable. This one was taken with a .6 ND Grad to balance the light with the sky and the darker foreground but other than that not much was needed for this scene.

Usually when I am around water, I break out the ND filters and start shooting long exposures. But on this occasion on the California coast, I was...