Not exactly planned

I was driving up California’s finest road today, in search of elephant seals, but was distracted by a bunch (covey? clan? cult?) of wind surfers intent on doing their thing on this blustery afternoon. Given that the Pacific rarely gets above 60F, all these chaps come equipped with rubber suits. Indeed, some look as if they were born in them!

5D, 24-105mm at 55mm, 1/6000, f/6.7, ISO 250

I approached the beach where the surfers were only to find it covered with elephant seals. You make your own luck. A couple of quick snaps of the rubber-suited set (keeping the exposure short to preserve the highlights) and then a far friendlier ‘hullo’ to the somewhat chubbier lot lolling on the beach. I guess 65F is paradise for these denizens of the Pacific.

5D, 24-105mm at 105mm, 1/2000, f/6.7, ISO 250

As my 5D and a few lenses are always in the trunk, there’s no need to remember to ‘always carry a camera’. The surfer snaps reminded me that I must clean the 5D’s sensor – a rare bugaboo in a near perfect tool. The blobs in the huge expanse of sky were retouched in LR2 before publication. You can just see the internal reflection in the sky, as the lens was aimed almost directly into the sun.