Gualala Point Regional Park :: Sonoma County Photographer

One of my favorite summertime activities is camping. The problem with camping in California is that most campgrounds book up pretty early in the year. For those of us who don't plan out the entire years worth of vacations and trips in January, this can become problematic because by the time you visit the main website where reservations are booked, all of the most desirable campgrounds are no longer available. Last year I took a different approach by searching regional parks and found Gualala, a beautiful campsite nestled in the woods off the coast in Sonoma County. If you can handle the 47 miles or so of highly curvy, somewhat nail-biting parts of highway 1 to get there from the Bay Area, you will not be disappointed. A hike to the beach is about a mile and makes for a great day excursion. It is a great place to bring the family and spend the weekend with friends, which is what we did this past weekend. Although we had to shorten the trip and leave earlier than expected Sunday due to health issues, it was otherwise a perfect getaway!

For this trip, I decided to bring my camera along and only one lens. Any photographer reading this knows just how hard it can be to NOT bring the entire camera bag; WHAT IF I NEED ONE OF THOSE OTHER LENSES? It felt liberating to not be bogged down with a heavy bag and constantly assessing with lens to use. There are so many decisions to make and choices to consider everyday and it sometimes it's a relief to limit the choices right off the bat and focus on one thing only. With my handy 50mm attached to my 5DMIII, I embraced this approach and enjoyed it immensely.