It’s strange visiting a place that you’ve seen a million times on Instagram. And I don’t feel like that’s an exaggeration on the numbers when it comes to this spot. There are places that people seem to flock to and that are photographed and shared with variations of light and style. This boat happens to be one of them. 

Search #pointreyes or #pointreyesboat or any variation of that and this boat eventually pops up. I'm not sure where I saw it first but once I'd seen it, it seemed to be everywhere. Of course, it's a beautiful spot and interesting and unusual. According to Atlas Obscura it's been left in place because of it's popularity with photographers. And when we planned our second trip to California I put it on a maybe we'll see that mental list because I can't resists a good instagram shot either. But I hadn't done any research about the location, deciding to leave it up to the travel gods to be a happy accident. 

Then, on our way to Point Reyes Lighthouse there it was. It was strange though. Not as mysterious in person and we shared the space with a few other photographers, careful to keep out of their shots as they were to keep out of ours. And we visited in the middle of a bright sunshiney day, beautiful but harsh light, missing out on the golden hour or soft blue after. 

Looking at my photos after I wasn’t really pleased with any of them. It’s a terrible thing to compare yourself to others but I couldn’t help but feel it had been captured in more flattering light by much more talented photographers. But I’m still glad we stopped to explore. 

Have you visited any Instagram famous places? Did they live up to your expectations?