Photographer Sam Peck captures the beauty of the Central Coast

Photographer Sam Peck has done plenty of globe trotting, but that’s in the past. “I’m done with the big stuff,” he said.

As beautiful and diverse as the Central Coast is, he still requires a change of scenery now and then, so he heads for Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra.

During a recent fishing trip with friends to the Eastern Sierra, he ended up saving the lives of two young women with hypothermia while on the last leg of a fourmonth hike from Mexico.

“This was a freak snowstorm,” said Peck, who’d driven up to the trailhead to catch a shot when a woman knocked on his window. “They said they would’ve died” had he not appeared.

Most of his travels are not that exciting, other than the thrill of catching a perfect reflection, a perfect shot.

His “El Capitan” in Yosemite captures the entire dome reflected in the still water of the Merced River, without showing the actual dome.

“I had just rolled in,” he said, “I’d just gotten there that afternoon.” When he saw the scene, “I just boogied down the bank and got the shot.” Snow is on the opposite shore, with banks of pure white billows on the boulders and rocks in the foreground.

Then it rained for two days, but the fourth day he caught a shot of Yosemite Falls, effectively bookending the trip, he said.

Photography was a natural outgrowth for the self-described travel rat whose family moved a lot. He was in Hawaii and a Marshall Islands atoll during high school. In 1965 he went to Vietnam as a Navy Seabee.

Then he pursued a long airline career as a liaison for advertising and doing promotional work. That took him to Asia, Europe, Bali, India, Thailand, and Nepal, San Francisco and Seattle.

He’s pretty much tucked in his wings this past decade after settling on the Central Coast except for visiting kin in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Maui.

On the home front, Peck finds his shots from southern Montaña de Oro and north to Big Sur.

Although Peck is usually up before the crack of dawn, on occasion he catches some evening shots, such as “Dusk” at the Estero Bluffs, where the rocks look like large sea creatures.

His “Bright and Early” at the Morro Strand shows sandpipers, Morro Rock in the distance, clouds reflected on the damp shore. It’s the same locale where he caught “Sundown Surfer,” a lone figure with board under his arm strolling toward the ocean.

Point Buchon’s “Sea Ghosts” captures swirly white water around formations where the surf has carved tunnels.

He’s still kicking himself for a recent lost opportunity in Yosemite. “I just missed last weekend,” he said late March. “It was the snow of snows, a winter wonderland.”

Peck realizes he can’t always be at the right place at the right time, but his timing has been pretty good so far.

This story was originally published April 2, 2012 at 5:17 AM with the headline "Photographer Sam Peck captures the beauty of the Central Coast."