Monolith, Storm Surf. Above Fort Bragg, California. November 19, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Winter surf breaks against a monolith on a Northern California Beach
On this day we gradually worked our way up the coast from Mendocino, through the town of Fort Bragg and on to where the coast highway, very narrow at this point, turns inland, leaving the coast behind as it travels up narrow, forested canyons. We had a particular spot in mind for photographs, a place where we have previously photographed pale, lichen-covered tree trunks in deep forest. The ideal light of this comes from overcast conditions and we certainly had that — but the lovely overcast soon turned into serious rain, and we decided to head back to the coast.
This was the sort of post-frontal rain that comes and goes. One moment there might be a bit of blue sky and some sunshine on the surface of the ocean; the next dark clouds would approach and we could see the approaching rain heading our direction. We stopped at this overlook as the rain let up a bit, giving us a more open view back up the dramatic coastline toward the mountains from which we had just retreated.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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