Where we shoot, on a map
You may see a few photos from nearby locations here. Many shoots span multiple spots in the same session.
Where you land comes down to the session you choose. A shorter weekday session sits at the low end; a weekend session with more time and more edited photos sits at the top. There's no deposit, and you pay after the shoot, not before.
Pfeiffer Beach
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Pfeiffer Beach is the Big Sur beach with the iconic keyhole arch and patches of purple sand — the latter from manganese garnet in the cliffs above. For a few weeks in December and January, the sunset lines up directly through the arch. The rest of the year it's still one of the most photographed beaches on the West Coast, accessed by a 2.2-mile single-lane road with limited parking.
The first thing to know about Pfeiffer Beach is the road. Sycamore Canyon Road is unsigned from Highway 1 (intentionally — Big Sur locals don't want it on Google Maps), a single paved lane, 2.2 miles long, with two pullouts for passing oncoming traffic. Downhill traffic yields to uphill. It takes ten minutes to drive in and ten minutes to drive out, longer if it's busy.
The lay of the land
Pfeiffer is almost always windy. The one time it wasn't, it was completely fogged in instead, so I traded one problem for another. Then I got all the way down there and realized I'd left my camera belt at home. That's the thing that frees up my hands to gesticulate wildly at a couple standing 50 feet away next to crashing waves. So I went old school: one camera, no off-camera lighting, a lot of shouting. Big Sur charges a toll, and the toll is usually your plan.
Make a trip out of it
Where to stay
Getting here
A few things about Pfeiffer Beach
For about three weeks each year, roughly December 21 plus or minus a couple of weeks, the sun's path drops far enough south to set directly through the Keyhole Arch. Photographers fly across the country for this window.
— Atlas Obscura / Travel CaffeineThe purple sand is real. Manganese garnet eroding out of the cliffs above leaves lavender-pink streaks across the beach, more vivid after winter rain.
— Wikipedia / Los Padres National ForestSycamore Canyon Road, the 2.2-mile single lane that leads to the beach, is intentionally unsigned from Highway 1. Big Sur locals have lobbied to keep it off Google Maps for decades.
— Roadtripping California / Layla's LensPfeiffer Beach is in Los Padres National Forest, not a California State Park. People confuse it constantly with Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (a mile north, no beach) and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (ten miles south, holds McWay Falls). Three different Pfeiffers, three different parks.
— Wikipedia / fs.usda.govThe lot holds 65 cars and the Forest Service shuts the road to incoming traffic when it fills, turning cars around at the highway. Arrive before 10am or after 4pm to avoid the gate-closed window.
— fs.usda.gov / Camp One Parks ManagementWeddings are technically not permitted at Pfeiffer from March 15 through October 15 because of the western snowy plover breeding season; small parties outside that window can sometimes get case-by-case clearance from the Forest Service.
— fs.usda.gov
Pfeiffer Beach also appears as Purple Sand Beach, Keyhole Arch, Keyhole Rock, Pheiffer Beach, or Pfeiffer Beach Day Use.