Summer's Evening

Posted by Don Smith (California, United States) on 15 June 2009 in Landscape & Rural.

I have returned from my Redwoods and Mendocino Coast workshop and will be sifting through a bevy of images I took along with my students in a myriad of locations. I'm starting with an image I captured the evening before the workshop actually began at Trinidad State Beach.

What first caught my eye was Pewetole Island perched just offshore. I loved how the pines dotted the ridgeline. Had the sun been out, it may have been fun to try for a sunstar, but as you can see, it was overcast on this particular evening lending for a monotoned look to the scene.

This is a typical summer pattern for California, and especially for June. Locals term it "June gloom." I encourage my students to find a splash of color when the skies are grey to help bring the image to life, and these seasonal lupine seemed like a natural foreground element which would serve a dual function of enlivening the scene, and serving as a anchor point for the eye to jump into the scene.

I tried vertical compositions as well, but kept retuning to this horizontal as the I liked the way the line of the shore also served to lead the eye through the image.

Unfortunately we never got to visit this beach during the workshop as travel plans changed.

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