th2ombre
It's ALWAYS about the light
Wintertime along the shore
The end of January ’14, take one
As you likely know, I am taken with sunsets and sunrises. Around here, in Del Mar, the best of those are in the winter. January ended and February began with some nice, but not extravagant sunsets worth savoring. This is a panorama, composed of four separate images hinting at the effectively 180 degree scope of the view from the cliff top bluff, from La Jolla on the far left, to just shy of the view all the way to Orange County on the right.
17:21 January 31, 2014
The above caption says it all. Military time.
17:31 January 31, 2014
This caption says as much as that for the previous image, and more. It turns out that the sun dipping below the horizon is a nice moment in time, and is when the occasional green flash can be seen. But the real light show begins just about ten minutes after the sun goes down. It requires some high cirrus or alto clouds, and enough cloud gap right at the horizon for the light to stream up and highlight the upper level clouds in hues that begin with gold and peach, and continue through orange, red and magenta.
The end of January ’14, take two
Now these images were all taken with my G15 while the 5D III was busy capturing a time-lapse sequence. I’ve begun adding those to these posts, as you know, but am going to try a different tack using Vimeo linked URLs that will enable you to see the time-lapse in higher resolution, while keeping down the amount of cache taken up on my blog site. So let’s see if this works and appeals to you.
You may know that yesterday, the 2nd of February, there was a commercials event accompanied by a football game. If you are a Denver fan, you may have wished to focus on the commercials. Anyway, during the halftime show, two of us intrepid Del Martian time-lapsers took the opportunity to see if the afternoon’s buttermilk sky might provide a viable sunset opportunity. Again, nice , but not off the charts.
Del Mar Superbowl halftime show
And for the time-lapse: https://vimeo.com/85750580
The shoreside is delightful throughout the day, and that includes the mornings, when all manner of delightful things can be seen.
Everybody rides!
Everybody rides is generic surfspeak for a party wave, when everybody out on a particular break rides the same wave. And there are no better body surfers than dolphins.
Kick out!
And the dolphin, stage right, in the previous image, decided he needed some air time, and launched out of the back of the wave. Just like human surfers, it was time to exit before the wave closed out on him.
Wave formation
Off the lip
Feathertip flight
Ah, the ubiquitous brown pelican, a California staple, having made a successful comeback from threatened species, after the banning of DDT returned sufficient strength to their eggshells enabling a full gestation period. On the ground, possessed of a face and body that only a mother could love. But in flight, a creature of pure delight. They have mastered the art of gliding in updrafts and ground effect, as it is known for human pilots. A peaking, about-to-break wave face provides sufficient updraft to support the pelican on the wing, and between waves they glide no more than an inch off the water, which results in substantial drag reduction and a supportive cushion of air. They can span miles of shoreline with only the most infrequent flaps between oncoming swells. And, of course, they are the consummate fishermen and women, diving for fish just beneath the surface and scooping them up in their bill pouches before extending their necks and gulping down their ultra fresh sashimi.
There you have it, another few days in the ‘hood.
th2ombre 
Absolutely LOVE the dolphin kicking out. Great capture Dad!