Picture: Seagull sitting on coastal rock as waves break in the background at sunset, Jug Handle State Reserve, Mendocino County Coast, California
Late last week I zipped up along the Mendocino Coast to get a few photos for an upcoming book project. I spent a wonderful morning in complete solitude on a beach watching the sunrise light over the ocean. When I got back to my truck, I was a little winded, and my throat felt a little sore. No big deal, except the sore throat failed to go away despite juice, coffee, and ice water. By lunch time I had a bad feeling, so I called home to inquire about the family health status. Everyone was fine when I left. My wife informed me my daughter had come down with a cold. As I was quickly able to deduce, she wasn’t gonna be the only one.
By that night, I was having some pretty severe coughing spasms, one of which (as I would find out later when I got home) was strong enough to break one of my own ribs. I spent the remainder of the trip wincing in pain and grabbing my side with every cough or sneeze. As I watched the waves at sunset, every so often an especially forceful wave would slam into the rocks, sending its energy spraying out in all directions. – Yeah, that’s pretty much what it felt like.
One thing I will prefer not to try again: Driving hundreds of feet above the Pacific Ocean on a narrow, twisting, 15-mph section of curves alongside a “one mistake and you’re dead” cliff; having a coughing spasm with a busted rib, holding the steering wheel in one hand, ribs in the other, and trying stay in my lane. Yeah, once was enough for that.
Wow, what an incredible image! Everything’s so… golden and wild. Sorry to hear about your rib, though.
I know that part Hwy 1 very well. Can’t imagine what it was like for you to drive it under the conditions you described…and living to tell us about it! Your image is very sensory: I feel the damp air, smell and taste the salt spray, hear the waves crashing against the cliffs, and see the filtered sunlight envelop the whole scene. Great image, Gary 🙂
Love this photo Gary. It’s powerful just like how I would expect the North Coast seascapes to be. I have a poster of Humboldt State University in my bedroom that has a similar type of look with the bird on a silhouette seastack that has a lot of scale. I’ve kept that poster for more than ten years because it always struck me as what a seascape photo should feel like when viewing it.
Wow, that is quite the story.
Nice image:I like the monochromatic sunrise orange, composition, waves and the Seagull is a nice touch.
Rosh