Morro Bay

We spent the past weekend up in the Central Coast. We did the usual circuit of Paso Robles wine tasting, ribs and art galleries in Cambria, seafood and window shopping in Morro Bay and Italian gourmet in San Luis Obispo. Throw in a Lavender farm in Atascadero and fresh apples in See Canyon and the trip was its usual success.

I did manage some photography along the way. Morro Bay is just very picturesque. Besides the famous rock and sand spit, the bay itself offers a lot of possibilities. The colors reflecting on the water is a prime example. I don't normally shoot abstract images, but water and reflections fascinate me. This image was done standing on the little wharf by the Great American Seafood restaurant at the north end of the Embarcadero. The trace of color from a moored boat and bouy made for a pretty image.

As can be expected, gulls and pelicans were plentiful. This gull managed to catch a small fish as it paddled by. It's always fascinating to see how they manipulate their prey in their beaks as they position it for swallowing. I'm sure the fish wished it was elsewhere.

This last shot was thrown in as an example of how mixing images has its drawbacks. The gull is obviously real and recognizable, whereas the water is colorfully abstract. I though it would be neat to have both in the same frame, but all that happened was the gull was camouflaged enough as to be bearly discernable and the water's effects were lessened by the realism of the bird. Oh, well...it was a nice idea.