1. Library of Ages at Central California. The fog settled in after another nice sunset along the central California coast. The rock layers which record the geologic history of Montana De Oro State Park just south of Big Sur, can be read like books in an ancient library. A long exposure isolated the rock by smoothing the large surf. Indeed, the photos is very naturally magnificent.

2. Big Sur, Portal of the Sun. This photo is a winner in the 2009 Nature’s Best Ocean Views competition. A print will hang in the Smithsonian museum in Washington DC for a year! This sea arch opening in a cliff face at Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur allows large waves to come through at high tide before a big storm. The waves often fill the entire portal to the top, and the portal becomes a giant water shotgun! The Tufoni formations in the rock are incredible and should be seen in person.

3. Maelstorm Kauai at Hawaii. The lava-ledge is 20 feet above the sea, and the incoming wave is twice that height. This is not the Sprouting Horn near Poipu and it is not Queen’s bath! It is called the Mokolea Lava Pools and this is indeed a near-death experience for the photographer. Solute!

4. Shores of Eternity at Big Sur, California. This timeless place was begging for the long exposure treatment. This little cove is one of many dozens of lesser-known and hard to reach places along the Bug Sur coast. It is heavily guarded by steep cliffs, and lots of poison oak, which produces a bad skin rash to those that are allergic to the oils in the leaves and stems. This wallpaper is very well-done.

5. Bird Rock at Point Lobos California. Being close to the “Library of the Ages”, the Bird Rock is just another stunning nature attraction for the tourists and also photographers.

6. Trade Winds at Isla Mujeres, Mexico. On this stretch of coastline on Isla Mujeres, the trade winds blow constantly, sending clouds and storms from Africa and keeping temperatures moderate. These rocks were under the sand until hurricane Wilma scored a direct hit on this area with wind gusts exceeding 200 mph. Aww scary.

7. La Jolla – Sandstone and Sky. The sun rises over La Jolla California. The symmetery of the stones is adding harmony to the wallpaper. I love this wallpaper.

8. Pigeon Point Evening Lighthouse. Evening comes to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, on the San Mateo count coast near San Francisco. Pigeon Point is home to large numbers of pelicans year round. It really should be called Pelican Point.

9. Needles and a Haystack at Cannon Beach, Oregon. Canon Beach in Northern Oregon is an exceptionally wide, long and flat beach with a number of large rock islands and sea stacks offshore. Low tide is often the best time to see it because you can get closer to the rocks and the sand is glossy and smooth both for walking and for photography. For two short minutes, the sun illuminated this scene against a dark sky. This is indeed a very rare moment for photographers.

10. Trinidad Surf at Humboldt Country California. When the wave hits the rock, the whole beach echoed with the sound of monsterous entity. I really wished that the photo will come together with the sound.

11. Ray of Light at Mount Diablo California. A final ray of light burst through the clouds on Mt. Diablo, 20 miles inland from San Francisco. A mid-winter storm provided some much needed rain and some much needed atmosphere too!

12. Yosemite National Park. It is amazing how this scene is just handed to you on a silver platter. The green is so significant that the photographer can’t avoid to take a shot on the landscape.

13. Maui Red. The red sand beach is just outside of Hana and is rather difficult to get to at high tide, especially in the dark before sunrise. The old path was washed away by a landslide and the waves at high tide make it difficult to run across the beaches between waves.

14. Point Lobos, Pinnacle Rock. Point Lobos, at the north end of Big Sur just south of Carmel, California could keep a photographer busy for months or even years. The sun peeks under the fog deck at sunset to illuminate the sea. It is a peninsula that has been sculptured by large Pacific waves over millions of years and the results are stunning. This is one of the western-most points of rock and is probably 50 feet tall at high tide. Sometimes waves wash over the entire rock.

15. Big Sur, Garrapata Surf. Large waves were rolling the cobblestones on the shoreline of Garrapata State Park, Big Sur, California. Too bad photographs cannot capture sound as an extra element. The cobblestones made quite an impressive sound as they rolled around in the large surf.



Images Resource: Patrick Smith Photography

Category: Arts and Culture, Featured, Headline, North America