Birds and Winter Surf. South of San Francisco, California. January 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Birds congregate along a stream with winter surf and bluffs above the Pacific Coastline in the distance – south of San Francisco, California.
I frequently stop along this section of the Pacific Coast between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, in a location where the road descends to almost the level of the beach. On this winter day the low clouds and fog were backlit by the sun as large winter surf rolled in. These birds appeared to be feeding in the creek near where it entered the surf and were just starting to take to the air as I exposed this photo.
This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
keywords: seascape, landscape, beach, bluff, surf, wave, pacific, ocean, coast, sand, water, reflection, bird, gull, flock, flight, creek, stream, hill, seaweed, two, people, highway, one, california, usa, fog, mist, cloud, travel, scenic, stock, black and white
Neal, I really appreciate your comment on this photograph. This one and a series of similar shots from more or less this location are dear to my heart – they are from “my” California coast north of Santa Cruz, and they are perhaps no the typical sort of coastal images, though they do, for me, capture a certain sense of the place.
You are also right about the technical issues of photographing in this glowing fog and dealing with the water reflections!
Take care,
Dan
JUst love to overall tone of this image. so easy to blow the highlights but not here the metering is spot on and so even. Love it Dan …