After our fun day at the Point Lobos National Reserve, we stopped at the nearby Monastery Beach to hang out a little bit and watch the sunset. It's so peaceful to hang out listening to the waves crash. The interesting thing about this beach is the sand has larger particles, almost like tiny, tiny pebbles, rather than miniscule grains of sand that you'd normally expect. 

BTW, it was really nice that you could park right off the highway and just walk onto the beach right there. Most other beaches we've been to have parking lots that are a slight hike away from the actual sand and surf. Too bad it isn't closer to us!
After our fun day at the Point Lobos National Reserve, we stopped at the nearby Monastery Beach to hang out a little bit and watch the sunset. It's so peaceful to hang out listening to the waves crash. The interesting thing about this beach is the sand has larger particles, almost like tiny, tiny pebbles, rather than miniscule grains of sand that you'd normally expect. 

BTW, it was really nice that you could park right off the highway and just walk onto the beach right there. Most other beaches we've been to have parking lots that are a slight hike away from the actual sand and surf. Too bad it isn't closer to us!
After our fun day at the Point Lobos National Reserve, we stopped at the nearby Monastery Beach to hang out a little bit and watch the sunset. It's so peaceful to hang out listening to the waves crash. The interesting thing about this beach is the sand has larger particles, almost like tiny, tiny pebbles, rather than miniscule grains of sand that you'd normally expect. 

BTW, it was really nice that you could park right off the highway and just walk onto the beach right there. Most other beaches we've been to have parking lots that are a slight hike away from the actual sand and surf. Too bad it isn't closer to us!
Was itching to go somewhere and have a proper photo shoot day, so I looked up things to do in Carmel and happened upon a place called Point Lobos State Reserve. Saw some cool photos on Flickr, so that's where we went last Saturday. We didn't get too far away from where we parked, but we had an awesome couple hours or so exploring the rock formations and tide pools near the spot we stopped. I think it was somewhere near Weston Beach that we spent all our time. Point Lobos is a huge park, so we barely, barely even scratched the surface of what we could do there. We'll definitely go back again sometime and get there earlier in the day so we can fit more activities in, but I was pretty content with the time we spent there that day.

All the colors and textures caught my eye. I took some photos, then rummaged around and picked a few shells as souvenirs. Later I realized that I wasn't supposed to take any shells. Oops!
...or that's what I thought when I took this photo. :) Taken at the Garfield Conservatory in Chicago, IL. It's a great place to spend a lazy Sunday.
Somewhere I stumbled across the technique called "freelensing", where you hold your SLR lens against the mount and swivel it around to focus (please Google for more details; I'm not responsible for any damage you inflict on your camera!).  It seems like the "poor man's" alternative to getting a Lensbaby.  Works for me, since I don't have the budget for a Lensbaby yet (it's on my Amazon Wish List, in case anyone wants to be ridiculously generous :D ), I was happy to try this out.  Hope I'm not ruining my D90 with this experiment... *sheepish grin*
Fireworks on the lakefront
Fireworks on the lakefront
Fireworks on the lakefront
After our fun day at the Point Lobos National Reserve, we stopped at the nearby Monastery Beach to hang out a little bit and watch the sunset. It's so peaceful to hang out listening to the waves crash. The interesting thing about this beach is the sand has larger particles, almost like tiny, tiny pebbles, rather than miniscule grains of sand that you'd normally expect.

BTW, it was really nice that you could park right off the highway and just walk onto the beach right there. Most other beaches we've been to have parking lots that are a slight hike away from the actual sand and surf. Too bad it isn't closer to us!
After our fun day at the Point Lobos National Reserve, we stopped at the nearby Monastery Beach to hang out a little bit and watch the sunset. It's so peaceful to hang out listening to the waves crash. The interesting thing about this beach is the sand has larger particles, almost like tiny, tiny pebbles, rather than miniscule grains of sand that you'd normally expect. 

BTW, it was really nice that you could park right off the highway and just walk onto the beach right there. Most other beaches we've been to have parking lots that are a slight hike away from the actual sand and surf. Too bad it isn't closer to us!
After our fun day at the Point Lobos National Reserve, we stopped at the nearby Monastery Beach to hang out a little bit and watch the sunset. It's so peaceful to hang out listening to the waves crash. The interesting thing about this beach is the sand has larger particles, almost like tiny, tiny pebbles, rather than miniscule grains of sand that you'd normally expect.

BTW, it was really nice that you could park right off the highway and just walk onto the beach right there. Most other beaches we've been to have parking lots that are a slight hike away from the actual sand and surf. Too bad it isn't closer to us!
See photo in original gallery.