Big Sur Coast, Evening Haze. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Evening winter haze and mist at sunset along the rugged Big Sur coastline
This is perhaps a fairly “typical” winter view of this coastline — if such a landscape can ever by described using that term. We were on the return leg of a visit to the Los Angles Basin, and we decided to take the long route back, following US 1 up the Big Sur coast. (There is an inverse relationship between speed and rewards when traveling between northern and southern California. Racing up and down I-5 in the Central Valley has its place, but you miss a lot. US 101 is slower but more interesting, and US 1 is a lot slower and a lot more interesting!)
By the time we got out of the LA Basin — which took three hours even on a post-holiday morning — it was clear that the winter sunset would occur when we were somewhere north of Ragged Point and south of the town of Big Sur. We did not know precisely where, but along this coast it is usually possible, when you realize that the day is ending, to find a good spot fairly quickly. I picked this one perhaps 10-15 minutes before sunset, mainly by intuition as we came around a headland and saw the foreground bay, the layered headlands, and the long view to the north. I quickly got out and set up to photograph in the warm, sunset light… and then watched it “gray out” as the sun dropped behind low haze sitting on the horizon!
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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