Pacific Coast Highway

Bixby Creek Bridge, Big Sur, California

I know I have gone missing for a while now, at least on my blog. I have fallen woefully behind and have a ton of catching up to do. However this is all for good reason. Pretty much every spare moment I’ve had, I have been doing photography or taking trips and photo outings. So there’s lots of good photography to share. You can also follow my on Instagram (@bryanallo) for a more up to date musings.

I spent last weekend in Monterey. I made the trip for various reasons which also included the Monterey Grand Prix races and a few other attractions. I was initially going to cover the races Saturday and explore the coast on Sunday, but when I realized the final heat race was on Sunday, I decided to skip the qualification races and spend Saturday exploring the coast. Due to the limited amount of time and only one sunset to spare, I had to come up with a shortlist of locations within 30 minutes of Monterey.

After a few stops, I concluded Bixby Bridge was to be my final stop. It did not disappoint. This is what beautiful country looks like. The California, most Californians don’t know about. Most of the people I ran into out there were from around the world or out of state at best. I highly recommend this quick stop as you make your way along the Pacific Coast Highway. It is only 20-30 minutes south of Monterey CA.

I arrived about 30 minutes before sunset. My objective was to quickly scout the area for a good clean shot – a shot good enough to make it to Limited Edition fine art canvas print. Above is a panorama from the west/sunset facing side. Below is another perspective which ended up being my perspective of choice for my final shot. I scouted the area with the Canon 5D Mark III and 24-70mm f/2.8L II lens. Once I settled on my shot, I switched bodies to the 50 Megapixel Canon 5DsR body. I used a tripod, ND8 filter and then took my time as magic hour progressed. Those shots will take a while to process so I will have to post them later.