Well, I didn’t capture the supermoon… | Port San Luis, CA

“Life is a journey, not a destination.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

A couple of weeks ago, my favorite photo buddy (my mom) & I headed out after dinner to capture the supermoon. The actual peak of the supermoon had been at 4:30AM that morning, but I didn’t see it since my lazy bones were nestled in my bed.

We drove into Avila Beach, one of my favorite little beach towns on the Central Coast, and made our way out to the Port San Luis Pier. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side. The fog was rolling in from the west and there were quite a few high clouds in the east.  It was really quite beautiful, but we didn’t stand a chance of capturing the moon cresting over the hills and reflecting on the bay as we had hoped.

Instead we walked around for a bit, took a few photos of the pier & its surroundings and then headed up Perfumo Canyon, hoping to climb above the fog and get a glimpse of the moon, but more on that in a minute.  Here is my favorite shot from of the evening:

This image of the pier pilings of the Port San Luis Pier was captured with an Induro AKB1 Tripod mounted Canon EOS 7D and Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens. To slow my exposure I was also using a B+W 10-stop Neutral Density Filter. I processed the image in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 and made the black & white conversion in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. (30 sec at f/7.1 ISO 320)

After leaving the Port San Luis Pier we spent the rest of the evening snaking through See Canyon and Perfumo Canyon, up and over the hills on a single lane, partially dirt road into San Luis Obispo.  As we climbed the fog grew more dense, and very wet.  So wet, in fact, that it sounded like rain on the car as we drove under the trees.  It was quite an adventure, but unfortunately we didn’t see the moon, not even a glimpse…just fog…and more fog.

At least we tried – and we still got a few good images, just not the ones we expected or hoped for. My lesson of the day: making the most of the journey is what life is all about.

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