Beach Walker, Evening, Waddell Creek Beach

Posted on 31 December 2009

A solitary beach walker at sunset approaches a flock of gulls at Waddell Creek Beach with clouds reflected in foreground pond.

This seemed like a good “last day of the year” photograph.

Just as the sun dropped to the horizon a lone beach walker came across this strand between this reflecting pond and the surf beyond and approached a flock of sea gulls. If I look at this photograph just right I can imagine that it is wholly a photograph of sky with a narrow “beach bridge” crossing through the middle.

This is one of a short sequence of photographs I made on this evening. I had spent the entire afternoon more or less looking for the right photographic subjects and had come up with nothing. I had just made what I figured would be my last stop for the day at the “official” beachfront parking lot at Waddell Beach. I got out, looked around, enjoyed the wind and sound of surf, but didn’t see anything that quite inspired me to take out the camera. I got back in the car, turned south on Highway 1… and a few seconds later as I crossed the bridge over the creek I saw the pool reflecting the sky. I quickly turned around and parked the car and made a few exposures in the fading light.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: waddell, creek, beach, big, basin, california, usa, state, park, pacific, ocean, stock, person, man, hiker, walker, sand, pond, pool, reflection, sky, cloud, sunset, dusk, evening, sky, colorful, wave, surf, ripple, nature, seascape, landscape, gulls, birds, flock, sea, shore, shoreline, coast, bluff, cliff, headland, seaweed, kelp, spray, stock

Category: Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean
Tags: basin, beach, big, birds, bluff, california, cliff, Cloud, coast, colorful, creek, dusk, evening, flock, gulls, headland, hiker, kelp, landscape, man, nature, ocean, pacific, park, person, photo, photography, pond, pool, reflection, ripple, sand, sea, seascape, seaweed, shore, shoreline, sky, spray, state, stock, sunset, surf, usa, waddell, walker, wave

2 comments to Beach Walker, Evening, Waddell Creek Beach

Jeff

says:

December 31, 2009 at 9:15 am

Dan, I love the long broad lines in this. I’m glad you titled it with “beach walker” though – because I might not have picked him out initially amongst the other silhouetted rocks, birds, and logs.

G Dan Mitchell says:

December 31, 2009 at 10:21 am

Thanks, Jeff. I actually went back and forth on the title of this photograph. For me the (very small) person on the beach was what brought the image together, but he is very small!

Dan

Reply