I’ve been doing quite a bit of location research in preparation for CAPTURE California coming up here in June, from the 25th to the 28th. Whether or not you’ll be coming to the workshop, I thought I’d share the top spots I think are best for shooting in the Crescent City area. You know, next time you plan a vacation on the California coast . . .

1. Enderts Beach

What I like about Enderts Beach is it’s seclusion. Stretches of lonely, rocky beaches are accessible by well kept trails just waiting to be explored. Situated just south of Crescent City, Enderts Beach offers a panoramic view of the harbor and town, perfect for taking pictures and spotting migrating whales. Locals know Enderts as one of the best places in the area for exploring tide pools too. Enderts Beach is a lovely, quiet, family-friendly destination that is well worth adding to a redwoods vacation itinerary. (Exact Google Maps location)

2. Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park

Bright, open, and lush, Jed Smith’s redwood groves are the most scenic in existence. There’s an unusual amount of variety in the color and texture of the trees, in the size of the trees, and even in the understory vegetation, making the woods an interesting place to hike and photograph. The park also has some trees of truly stupendous size: perhaps not quite as tall as the redwoods to the south, but bigger in diameter. With its huge swath of uninterrupted old growth, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is known for being the most “unspoiled” redwood park. (Exact Google Maps location)

3. Battery Point Lighthouse

Battery Point Light was one of the first lighthouses on the California coast. Rugged mountains and unbridged rivers meant coastal travel was essential for the economic survival of this region. Something quite unique to this lighthouse is that it is only accessible at low tides when the only landbridge is not covered the ocean. (Exact Google Maps location)

Image by www.jigsawexplorer.com

4. Six Rivers National Forest

We’ll only be exploring a fraction of this one million acre park containing a variety of ecosystems and 137,000 acres of old growth forest. Six Rivers is named after the six major rivers that pass near or through the forest where we’ll practice shooting flowing water and waterfalls.

5. Trinidad State Beach

It’s a short hike through the woods, across open bluffs, and past seasonal wildflowers down to the beach. We’ll plan to be there at low tide, the best time to visit. On the high bluffs above the beaches there are open meadows with scattered stands of alders. The park’s 159 acres spread over a marine terrace cloaked in beach pine and Sitka spruce. And consider the lilies of the field: the Columbia lily and endangered western lily grow atop the steep bluffs. This is one of my absolute favorite locations on the northern California coast! The sea stacks really make for good photographic subjects too. (Exact Google Maps location)

The $50 Early Registration discount for CAPTURE California ends on Monday the 26th at midnight. Get the good deal while you can!