Dana Point Harbor - Baby Beach and Tall Ships

Author's Comments

The harbor at Dana Point is a working place, and I think that is part of why it photographs the way it does. Come early. Seven in the morning, before the charter boats start moving and the inner water is still glass. The tall ships are docked at the east end near the Ocean Institute, and in the first hour of light the masts and rigging double themselves on the surface in a way that feels almost too clean to be real. The Pilgrim is the obvious subject. The Spirit of Dana Point sits nearby and is, I think, the more interesting silhouette - smaller, more intricate, and lit differently because of the angle of the bluffs behind her. I tend to work the rigging in detail before I pull back for the wide shot. The ropes and blocks and the small brass particulars reward a longer lens and a patient eye, and they are the kind of frames that hold up better than the postcard wide that everyone leaves with. Once the harbor wakes, walk west to Baby Beach. The cove is small and shallow and the water goes a turquoise that does not quite belong to Southern California, more Caribbean than Pacific, held in place by the breakwall. By mid-morning the light there is harsh and the families have arrived, but in the soft window before nine the sand is empty and the water reads almost tropical against the dark rock of the wall. Winter mornings are clearest. Summer mornings are softer. I have not found a season here that does not give you something, which is rarer than it sounds.

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