Have camera will travel

We had a great time, although the beds were hard, and the wind on Friday night was at least 50 MPH, and could have blown us off the cliffs. We left Sacramento Friday morning and drove to Point Reyes without a problem. The day was sunny and warm in the valley, but cool on the coast, only 65F.
There were Elephant Seals by the Lifeboat station, so we got some good images of them. The instructor showed up, and let me use her 150-500 MM lens, so I got some great closeups of the seals.
After a short intro to the workshop and the instructors, we split into 2 groups. We went with the advanced group, and off to the lighthouse we drove – straight into the sun.
I was in the front passenger seat – looking directly into the sun, and out the side window down about 300 ft into the ocean or cow pasture. We could hardly standup when we got out of the car in the parking lot of the lighthouse. None of us ventured up the short trail and around the big rock to see the lighthouse – way too windy. We took some photos of the sun going down and people trying to walk into the wind. After about 1/2 hr we went back to the station. We shared a room with bunk beds with a lady from San Fransico. The 3 of us spread our stuff over the 6 bunk beds.
Saturday morning I decided that I would drive around or I would be car sick for the day. We went up to the light house again to see if the wind had died sown enough to take photos – nope.
So off we went to the North Operations Center to take photos of the line of cypress trees along the road to the building. Huge old trees that covered the road. We tucked our pants in our socks and wandered through the grass and weeds to take photos. We tucked our pants in our socks to discourage the ticks.

After that we went into Inverness to take photos of an old boat that had seen better days. There wasn’t much water around the boat so we didnt get the reflections that the instructor was aiming for.
There was a coffe shop open so part of the group ran to get good coffee, we supposedly have bad coffee at the station. I tried some bracketing techniques that I will use with HDR once I get home, or maybe some down time around the pool. From there we went back up the road to the Oyster Farm to shoot the people bringing them in and sorting them.
That is were the photogragh of the weekend was taken. There was an Egret (big white bird) in tha slough, so over 4 of us went to see if we could get any good shots of this bird. He or she co-operated and was hopping from place to place. I did not have my long lens with me, so I didn’t get any good closeups of the bird. The bird hopped around for a bit, and then tired of us taking his photo, and flew away to the far end of the pond.
From there were started back towards the station, we got stopped by the facilatators and given the key to the station, as they wasnted to see the radio exhibit at the Northern Operations Center. We took our responsibility seriously and drove straight back, where we promptly dropped onto the couches to rest. We regrouped after all the people came back and decided to take a hike to Chimney Rock. It was about a 2 mile hike there and back, and of course the sun did not co-operate again, the fog was driftling in and the clouds were gathering. Thankfully the wind had died down. We wandered slowly back down to the station, and started to get the pot luck supper ready. We set up tables in the life boat bay and put out all the food. What a feast! And there was even chocolate cake for desert – ya! We laughed and talked about the day and all the shots taken and missed. After cleanup we went up to the meeting room and had a presentation on
photoshop and how to make an ok shot a fantastic shot. Most people were falling asleep and it was only 9 pm. Most of us crashed early but about 5 people wandered out to take night shots and get chased by seals on the beach – not me. Once back in the room and in out bunks the 3 of us started to talk about the day and started to giggle – I guess the whole place heard us, because the next morning, they asked what we were talking about.

Sunday morning was foggy, so out we went to get shots of anything in fog. Out to the lighthouse again – still haven’t seen it, but too windy there still, so off to Drakes Beach. Wandered around there and took sand and rock shots, some people too. From there we went to South beach to get some of the waves coming in straigh off the Pacific. Huge wave a little fog and not much else. We got to be keeper of the key to the station again, so back to the station and cleanup. We packed up and then started to clean.
That is one of the duties when you take a couse here, you have to cleanup after your course. It took about an hour with all of us pitching in. As we cleaned we all moved toward the door and out. Once complete we stood around outside in the sun and talked. We convinced the keeper of the station to let 2 of us go past the “Keep Out” sign and go out onto the boat ramp and take a few images. There wasn’t must bird poop on the ramp so it wasnt slippery. We took a group image,a nd then said out goodbyes.
It was a great weekend, and I hope I have a few good images.