![\"plaskett_rock_north_2011\"](\"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/plaskett_rock_north_2011.jpg\" "\\"plaskett_rock_north_2011\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe first thing that comes to most people\u2019s minds are the towering Santa Lucia mountains that plunge headlong into the blue Pacific Ocean.\u00a0 And there\u2019s no doubt, this is what characterizes Big Sur.\u00a0 The mountains in some places are a mile high and drop to the sea in only two miles.\u00a0 Statistics \u2013 interesting but they don\u2019t begin to convey the feeling you have in your stomach when driving the Cabrillo Highway, the two lane road that clings to the cliffs, snaking its way from San Simeon in the south to Carmel-by-the-Sea in the north.<\/p>\n
Wherever you have such a precipitous coastline you\u2019ll find plenty of cliffs into which the surf endlessly crashes.\u00a0 You can experience calm seas like the photograph above.\u00a0 After all it is the Pacific.\u00a0 Or you can get a little more action.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But when you combine this dramatic meeting of land and sea with an offshore storm, you can see some surf that takes your breath away.\u00a0 It\u2019s both frightening, awe inspiring and exhilarating.<\/p>\n There is one meeting of mountain and sea in particular that is always a wonder and inspiration.\u00a0 It is the famous waterfall at McWay Cove in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.\u00a0 It is probably the most photographed waterfall along the entire Big Sur coast and for excellent reason.\u00a0 It is unique and that in itself makes it a compelling subject.\u00a0 But Lathrop and Helen Hooper Brown used to have their home where we now enjoy the view across the cove to the waterfall.\u00a0 Can you imagine what a wonderful life that must have been?\u00a0 They donated the land to the State Park system and now we can all enjoy it too.<\/p>\n This peaceful place speaks to me in a most seductive voice in the quiet of twilight.\u00a0 And when the Pacific puts on one if her beautiful sunsets there is nothing that compares.<\/p>\n The coast has one enchantment after another.\u00a0 But there\u2019s more to Big Sur which begins at the southern end in the shadow of Hearst Castle, the opulent home built by the late William Randolph Hearst.\u00a0 Hearst not only enjoyed collecting priceless art but also exotic wild animals.\u00a0 You can still see zebras grazing on the slopes below the castle.\u00a0 If you didn\u2019t know the ocean was right behind you, you might think you were in Africa.<\/p>\n The castle itself sits at the top of the mountain looking out over the ocean and the grazing lands below.<\/p>\n In the town of San Simeon, built at the foot of the mountain, the pier still remains where ships used to dock to supply the castle.\u00a0 Now fishermen arrive early in the morning to test their skill and luck.\u00a0 I love the abstract images it provides.<\/p>\n But there are some very special natural wonders awaiting as we move up the coast.\u00a0 I never tire of visiting Salmon Falls. I\u2019ve seen it when it was a raging torrent, dangerous to go near.<\/p>\n And I\u2019ve experienced it when it was a wonderland, as delicate and beautiful as fairy wings.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s the same waterfall.\u00a0 There are several beautiful waterfalls but Salmon Falls is my favorite.\u00a0 It is always an inspiration to scramble up the canyon and arrive at the base of the falls.\u00a0 You never know what to expect but you are never disappointed.<\/p>\n Big Sur is also the home of some beautiful redwood groves.\u00a0 In fact, the southern-most grove on the continent is just a few miles up the coast from Salmon Falls.\u00a0 But one of the most beautiful is on the Old Coast Road north of the town of Big Sur.<\/p>\n What a wonderful feeling to walk among these tall giants.\u00a0 The sunlight filters down, dancing on the green needles while soft light makes the ruddy red tree trunks glow.\u00a0 This is the perfect place to slow down, stop and sit a spell to just soak it all in.<\/p>\n Often flowing through redwood groves are laughing, dancing streams like this one in Limekiln State Park.\u00a0 There is such joy in these splashing, bubbling waters.<\/p>\n Speaking of Old Coast Road, this road was necessary because of the huge Bixby Canyon that was too deep to cross.\u00a0 So they built the 10 mile road to skirt this major obstacle.\u00a0 For years it was the only way to get from Carmel to Big Sur.\u00a0 But in 1932 the Bixby Bridge was completed.\u00a0 It stands today as the iconic bridge of the Big Sur coast.\u00a0 There are other beautiful bridges but Bixby Bridge is the finest, most graceful of them all.<\/p>\n A tour up Big Sur would not be complete without including Point Lobos, the incredible spit of land just south of Carmel.\u00a0 It has inspired photographers ever since cameras arrived on the West Coast.\u00a0 Probably the most famous of the photographers was Edward Weston who showed us Point Lobos through his discerning eyes.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to pick any one part of Point Lobos but an area that inspires me with it\u2019s rugged yet tranquil beauty is China Cove.<\/p>\n But Point Lobos offers other possibilities.\u00a0 There are endless abstractions that spawn flights of the imagination.\u00a0 You can find them just about everywhere but the tide pools and surrounding rocky shores are the best.<\/p>\n So there you have it, a brief tour of some of my favorite spots in Big Sur.\u00a0 It is truly a place filled with magic and inspiration.\u00a0 It is no wonder it has attracted so many nature lovers and artists.\u00a0 Much of the coastline is still wild and pristine but there is a lot of development in places.\u00a0 Fortunately, the most beautiful areas are still there for all to visit for our enjoyment and revitalization.<\/p>\n It would be a mistake to close this account without sharing a sunset photograph.\u00a0 The sunsets over the Pacific can be some of the most beautiful on the planet.\u00a0 It was in January of 2012 that I was on Pfeiffer beach with a group of photographers.\u00a0 Trying to photograph the sun shining through the famous tunnel as the waves crashed through just wasn\u2019t working.\u00a0 But after the sun dipped below the horizon the best part started.\u00a0 The clouds began to glow.\u00a0 I sprinted down the beach so that I could work some offshore rocks into the composition before the colors faded.\u00a0 Then it was a matter of enjoying the splendid show and pressing the shutter every once in a while.<\/p>\n I hope that I\u2019ve been able to share with you through words and photographs why Big Sur is so special to me.\u00a0 Every time I return there\u2019s always something new.\u00a0 I\u2019m especially fortunate to be doing two workshops a year up there \u2013 one in August and the other in November.\u00a0 If you should choose to join me I would be delighted to share this wonderful experience with you and show you all the many places that speak to me.\u00a0 If you\u2019d like more information here\u2019s a link.<\/p>\n Big Sur Photograph Workshop<\/a><\/p>\n It would be wonderful to see you there.<\/p>\n If you like this post than please feel free to Like it.\u00a0 Also, I invite you to share it.\u00a0 Links are available at the top of the post.<\/p>\n You are also invited to join in the conversation.\u00a0 Please feel free to add your comments, share your favorite places in Big Sur or any interesting stories you have.<\/p>\n We do photography workshops.\u00a0 Come on out and join us.\u00a0 Click here to check us out.<\/a><\/p>\n You can also check out our photography.\u00a0 Click here.<\/a><\/p>\n (1499)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Big Sur in California is beyond description. Join me as I share some of my favorite locations ane experiences along this beautiful coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[787,580,797,300,799,32,779,794,788,545,791,792,108,783,782,434,796,800,785,798,26,13,288,795,780,790,789,786,781,778,271,23,784,793],"class_list":["post-2698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","tag-abstract","tag-august","tag-beach","tag-big-sur","tag-bixby-bridge","tag-california","tag-carmel-by-the-sea","tag-cattle","tag-china-cove","tag-edward-weston","tag-garrapata","tag-hearst-castle","tag-inspiration","tag-mcway-cove","tag-mcway-falls","tag-mountains","tag-november","tag-old-coast-road","tag-pacific-ocean","tag-pfeiffer","tag-photograph","tag-photography","tag-photography-workshop","tag-pier","tag-point-lobos","tag-redwod-grove","tag-redwoods","tag-rocky-point","tag-salmon-falls","tag-san-simeon","tag-storm","tag-sunset","tag-waves","tag-zebra"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Nl7-Hw","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2698"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5115,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions\/5115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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