One of my first real work-breaks after moving to Monterey Bay was the week between Christmas and New Year's in 2023.

Evelia and I had often been spending our weekends exploring the sights around our new home, but a lot of that had initially been southward along Big Sur. This time we set aside a day and traveled up the northern leg of the Pacific Coast Highway, meandering our way up to Pigeon Point, Año Nuevo, and back down through Santa Cruz.

One of the real surprises for us was Shark Fin Cove:

This largely-unmarked beach rests below a small shoulder-pull-off just south of Davenport, across a set of abandoned Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. It was already late afternoon and we had just finished a meal at the excellent Davenport Roadhouse, so not much time had been put aside for another stop.

But I could not resist taking a few pics. This particular one I didn’t have a lot of hope for as the setting sun was shining almost directly into the lens, and even with a CPL filter I was concerned that the glare and haze would be too much. But, much my surprise, it only required a very light touch of Haze Reduction in Photoshop to really bring it out.

We have returned several times since and almost every time the Cove is a little bit different. As such it is rapidly becoming one of my favorite spots, and it has become a regular stop when we are up that way.

December 30th, 2023 –{Tech in the comments}

#Photography #Images #SilentSunday #MomentOfZen #LandscapePhotography