Welcome to the State of California's Central Coast Region

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Paso Robles lots of green covered hills go east on highway 46

Santa Margarita Lake.  In Santa Margarita go east on Pozo Road for 8 miles to the lake, which borders

Los Padres National Forest.  Keep going 12 miles to Fraser Canyon with nice views of Pine Mountain

Lake Nacimento.  take County Road G14 (also known as 24th St in Paso) for about 15 miles west to the lake.

Pismo Beach

Ojai

San Luis Obispo.

La Purisima in Lompoc

Highway 1 between San Simeon and Carmel.  There are many spots to stop along the way for sea lions, high cliffs, tide pools.

Montana de Oro state park.  Scenic cliffs, tide pools, coves ,oak forests and great hiking trails.

Morro Bay State Park

Morro Bay - Photograph the fishing fleet early in the morning with Morro Rock behind them.

Morro Strand State Beach

Lompoc has great flower fields  Map showing the best routes to follow to photograph the flower fields: 

La Purisima Mission

Solvang  There are lots of Danish-style buildings and windmills to photograph.  Also Mission Santa Ines.

San Ynes Valley has many horse farms with rolling hills of grass white fences, grassy field, oaks and sometimes horses.  Also wild flowers.

Los Olivos you can find nice grapevines along country roads.  Ballard Schoolhouse between the ends of Lewis and Cottonwood on School

Santa Ynez town has an old west look

Nojoqui Falls best in spring after rains.  It is about a half-mile walk to the falls from the parking area.

Monarch Butterflies can be found in the winter around Goleta just north of Santa Barbara.  These large orange and black butterflies clustered together in large numbers in to make very striking photos.

Hearst Castle - Take the tour that has the swimming pool in it.

Mission San Miguel - Just a rustic mission with lots of interesting stuff laying around to photograph.

Monterey. Has lot of photo opportunities.  Fisherman's Wharf early in the morning, Municipal Wharf, Old Custom House, Cannery Row, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Drive out along Ocean View Blvd. for some nice sea views and the Point Pinos lighthouse.

Pacific Grove great to photograph Victorian homes.

Mission San Juan Bautista at San Juan Bautista the town also has many historic buildings

Monterey Bay State Historic Park. See Pacific House

Carmel - Carmel Mission (Mission San Carlos Borromeo).  Tor House/HawkTower the (stone) home of poet Robinson Jeffers

Point Lobos State Preserve – A historic whaler's cabin at Whaler's Cove, sea otters, Monterey cypress trees, rugged coastline. 

Salmon Creek Falls

Cambria

Arlo Nuevo Street Park

Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz. during November is a great time to photograph Monarch Butterflies.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. And McWay Falls  It is about 12-15 miles south of Big Sur, and the parking lot is on the inland side of Highway 1.  There is a pedestrian tunnel under the road.  McWay Fallsonly has water during the west coast's winter storm season.

Pfeiffer Beach great sunset photo’s. To get there go 2/10 mile south of the Big Sur ranger station.  The turnoff is not marked except with some mailboxes and a sign that say "RV's not recommended".

Piedras Blancas lighthouse and on the beach check for elephant seals.

Moonstone Beach with lots of drift wood on the beach to photograph.

China rock

Lone Cypress Tree entrance to Pebble Beach and 17 Mile Drive

Elfin Forest by the bay. Nice panaroma, many plant species well labeled, twisted live oaks, some bird shots 

Sweetwater Nature Preserve.

Los Osos Oaks Reserve locate exactly one mile east of 10th street in Los Osos on Los Osos Valley Road.  The oaks in the reserve are as much as 800 years old and are a mix of both large trees and tiny dwarfed ones.  Their branches and trunks are twisted, gnarled and wrinkled with moss hanging down.  You'll need a tripod for the long exposure time.

Limekiln State Park a hidden jewel for redwoods and small creeks also Limekiln Falls.

Old Coast Road is an 11-mile dirt road that goes from Bixby Bridge at its north end to Andrew Molera State Park at its south end Great for redwoods and small streams.  Great views of the Santa Lucias (the mountain range that forms Big Sur

Montaro Lighthouse

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Mark Abbott Lighthouse in Santa Cruz

San Simeon State Park beach

Garapata Beach

Elkhorn Slough which is just south of Pajaro is a good place to go for the birds. There are two choices. You can park at the north end at Kirby Park for free and watch all day or at the south end you can pay $2 at the reserve center, and walk along their trails from 9-5 Wednesday through Sunday. To get there take Elkhorn Road.

Figueroa Mountain wildflowers early April

Piedras Blancas lighthouse

Garland Garland Park, 8 miles up Carmel Valley Rd from Carmel. Hike up the hill to the waterfalls

Lake Cachuma Seasonal bald eagles from about November into February-March great place to eat is Mattei's Tavern Solvang

Old San Juan Bautista Mission also there is a State Historical Park next to the Mission.

The best locations to take photo's are in our database. If you know of any Photography Locations you have visited or pictures that you would like to share SUBMIT them. Thank You for your help in making our Photo Locations Guide database grow.