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As mentioned yesterday, I went to the the Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery with Jason Bradley as part of his workshop today.  We woke up before dawn, at 5:40 AM, to get out to the rookery at first light. Even though  California had been hit hard this last week with rain, this morning was beautiful.

The light was great and the seals were out in full force. The beach was absolutely covered with newborn pups, pregnant females and giant two and half ton, sixteen foot bulls.  The sheer size of the bulls, combined with their odd shaped proboscis make these one the most charismatic animals I have encountered.  

While the bulls may be the most noticeable, the young and female are really great to photograph as well. They should not be overlooked.   

The group of 15 photographers got to take turns using 600mm lenses, which was a real treat. The Nikon 600mm f/4 lens was one of the sharpest, nicest lenses I have ever used.  It's a lot of fun to play around with.  

In the afternoon Jason and Bill Stotzner, who is on the Adobe Lightroom team, gave a lecture on digital workflow in Lightroom. We then headed back to the rookery to catch the last light and nice sunset.  Tomorrow concludes the workshop with another morning in the field.  Here are some shots from the first day. More to come tomorrow.