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Photo: Wave at Sunset, Bean Hollow State Beach

By March 22, 2006 California, Coast, Photos, Sunset, Water
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Picture: Crashing wave at sunset, Bean Hollow State Beach, San Mateo County, California coast.

Here’s another image that I posted over at NaturePhotographers.net. Taken a number of years ago, this is one of those images where previsualization played a strong role in my getting the shot.

Crashing wave at sunset on coastal rocks, Bean Hollow State Beach, San Mateo County coast, California

Bean Hollow State Beach is about 50 minutes south of San Francisco along Highway One. One of the nice natural features is a rocky ledge that runs along the water. At high tide, and with a little wind, you can see wave after wave breaking on these rocks. With each wave, there would be a huge curtain of spray. However, with almost mythic qualities, you can get the waves to stop breaking. Just…


… point a camera at the spot you want to catch a wave, and like magic they stop. That’s exactly what happened here. With the sun going down, the winds became calm, and suddenly there were no more waves breaking. I had my heart set on getting an image of a wave at sunset, so I waited…and waited…and waited. With the sun sinking, I finally got lucky with a set of waves that finally broke on the rocks with enough force to create the effect I’d been hoping for.

Click to see more images of the San Mateo / Santa Cruz coast.

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