Kehoe Beach, one of the most beautiful ocean shores at Point Reyes, is in the northern area of the park. Next to McClures Beach, it is my favorite of all the beaches in the national seashore. Over the years I’ve made scores of visits there. Some of these explorations have resulted in portfolio-level photographs. It had been a while since I had visited Kehoe, so I was all ears when I received a call from my friend last week.
My friend and fellow landscape photographer, Bill Helsel, was on the phone. He invited me to join him for a late afternoon photo walk at Kehoe Beach. Bill had checked the tides and selected a particular day and time for our visit. (Besides being an accomplished fine art photographer, Bill is also an inspirational and dedicated teacher of the photographic arts.)
When we arrived, we were delighted to find that an unusually high tide had swept the sands clean. The afternoon’s surf had deposited several invitingly ephemeral tidepools on the high reaches of the beach. The late afternoon sun created brilliant highlights along the edges of these pools. We were at the right beach at the right time! Enjoying the views, we walked together for a while, stretching our photographers’ eyes, and then we wandered away from each other, following our own muses.
As I wandered, letting the light lead me along the beach, I found several good photo opportunities. This is what I love most about landscape photography – the surprising discoveries, gifts if you will, that can come from peacefully wandering in the good light.
During the time spent at Kehoe, I made a few photographs I found worthy of adding to my website. Those six new images are at the bottom of the first thumbnails page of my Waterscapes Collection.
Marty – Well done, as usual. I especially appreciate the first and second images. Great composition around the S-curve in the first image. The second image really captures the essence of Kehoe Beach. I, too, find it to be one of the better spots at Point Reyes with generally fewer people around and some very interesting formations. These images also tell us a lot about just how far image capture has come with our digital cameras. Was not too long ago when these images on digital would have lead to blocked-up highlights. Forget about it on film. This is indeed a good time to be photographing the landscape. Frank
Frank,
Thanks for the comments on the new Kehoe photographs. My journey into digital capture has re-invigorated my photography. I had started running out of steam with analog after 40 years. Now, I’m like a kid with a brand new toy! Cheers, Marty