California Dreaming

Without a doubt filming nature and wildlife is my passion. So when my wife and I travelled to San Francisco to attend a good friend’s wedding, I made sure I packed my video gear to get in a bit of filming while we were there.

My wife being a California girl loves the ocean. Growing up in Monterey, California, she could look out her classroom window and see the ocean. So it wasn’t to hard to talk her into doing a little traveling along the coast to shoot a little bit of video footage.

The key to getting good footage is to get out early. Oftentimes during this trip I’d rise before sunrise and set up on the beach to catch the first light of day. The added benefit to this is you hardly ever encounter people. By the time most people would be getting up and making their way to my location I’d be headed back to the hotel to have breakfast.

Sadly the weather didn’t cooperate as much as I would have liked this trip. Every afternoon I’d scope out a location to film the sunset only to have the clouds move in, ruining any hope of seeing the sun.

Luckily on our last evening there it looked like there might be a break in the clouds just long enough for the sun to make a brief appearance. We happened to be driving past the Pigeon Point Lighthouse at the time so I thought that would make a great backdrop for my final attempt at getting the California sunset this trip.

I could see rain clouds developing in the distance so I knew it wouldn’t be much of an opportunity but I thought I would replay regret it if I passed this chance by. So I grabbed my gear and headed down to the edge of the cliffs.

Finally on our last evening there I was able to film my sunset. On our way to Half Moon Bay the rain finally settled in but I had captured my sunset.

And as always, shoot the ordinary and make it extraordinary!