A Quick Stop in Bodega Bay: Photography on the Sonoma Coast
After a weekend trip to Sonoma for some biking and wine, we took the scenic route back to Palo Alto and stopped in Bodega Bay to stretch our legs. Best known as the setting for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, Bodega Bay was quiet and sleepy on this particular morning, with hardly a bird in sight.
We drove around the bay to the Pacific side for a view of the rocky shoreline before hoping back into the Jeep and making the drive home.
Field Notes: Behind the Lens in Bodega Bay
If you're tracking down views of the wild, rocky shoreline on the Pacific side of the harbor, follow Westshore Road all the way out until it turns into Bodega Head. There is a wide dirt parking lot at the top of the cliffs that serves as an incredible vantage point looking straight down over the surf breaking against the rocks. When you are photographing this open stretch of the Sonoma Coast, the bright glare off the water and the deep shadows of the sea cliffs can easily overwhelm your camera's dynamic range. I like to frame these scenes by exposing directly for the coastal haze and highlights, letting the dark stone formations drop into deep, high-contrast tones that highlight the rugged shapes of the shore. If you happen to visit on a characteristically overcast morning, the soft, diffused light acts like a giant softbox, perfect for slowing down your exposure slightly to capture the rhythmic pull of the tides against the lower tide pools.
Most of our daily photography is fragmented. We snap a photo here and there, treating each frame as an isolated event. But the real magic happens when you learn to see the bigger picture. If you love discovering these quiet pockets of coastal life and want to spend a day learning to navigate this local light side-by-side with me, I offer 1-on-1 private mentoring sessions right here in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California coast. We can explore changing light conditions together, focus on your unique creative vision, and find your visual style out in the field. You can check out all the details and book a mentoring session here.
