This is me! I only allow a few photographs of myself, and I rarely take selfies. This is the exception to the rule.
I had been an active photographer for 7 years when I took this photo. I was on the “Trip of a Lifetime” with my dad and brother. In late August 2014, Dad and I flew out to San Francisco from Virginia to drive the Pacific Coast Highway down to San Diego. What Dad did not realize was that my brother was flying from Michigan to meet us for the trip! We had arranged our flights to land at about the same time. What a major surprise for Dad!
We were staying in Pacifica, just south of San Francisco. The day after we arrived, my brother drove the rental car so that I could shoot whatever scenery might be whizzing by. It was a Friday morning at rush hour and traffic got heavier the closer we got to the city. There are so many colorful homes on the hillsides as you drive into the city. You can see the fog in the higher areas of the hills.
There was quite a bit of fog downtown, though, but just at the tops of the buildings. Fortunately, the roads weren’t covered in fog to make driving hazardous. I am so thankful that my brother was there to do the driving to give me a chance to get pictures.
What you do not see in these two photos are the people on motorcycles who used the white lane marker between lanes as their own freeway lane. The motorcycles weren’t moving at highway speeds in between the lanes – just when traffic was moving very slowly or had stopped. I had never seen anything like it.
Three minutes after being on the freeway and seeing all the fog covering the city buildings, we were crossing Folsom in the Mission District. No fog at all, at least not on the streets. The fog did not burn off that day – it remained overcast and foggy for the rest of the day.
This really was the trip of a lifetime for us. We spent over a week driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, enjoying the views of the beaches, oceans, and landscape along the way. Every day, I think about going back and spending more time. The vibe in California struck a chord in me. Even though I’d never been there, I felt a sense of familiarity when looking out over the Pacific Ocean in Big Sur. I felt like I was finally at home. That is why I chose this photograph of myself as my self portrait.
Beautiful Sun Adventures is brought to you by Deb Beausoleil, a landscape photographer living in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her photography can be viewed (and purchased!) at her website, Beautiful Sun Photography.