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Life on the Central Coast
Spring 2028·Arts & Culture
Photo Essay

A Photographer's Year on Montana de Oro

Dawn to dusk, January to December — 365 days of light, fog, and wildflowers on the coast's most photogenic state park.

By Anthony Atkins·
A Photographer's Year on Montana de Oro
Photograph by Anthony Atkins

Anthony Atkins spent every Tuesday morning for a year at Montana de Oro — always arriving before dawn, always leaving by 10 a.m. "The park has two personalities," he says. "Before 8 and after 8. Before 8, it belongs to the foxes and the photographers. After 8, it belongs to everyone else."

What emerged is a 48-image series that tracks the park through every season: the winter storms that turn Spooner's Cove into a washing machine, the spring wildflower bloom that draws 200 photographers on a single Saturday, the summer fog that erases the bluffs entirely, and the autumn light that makes the sandstone glow like it's on fire.


Anthony Atkins contributed to this story.

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