Rocks, Spray, and Light Beams. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Beams of morning light slant through spray thrown up by waves crashing on rocks along the Big Sur coast.

California’s Big Sur Coast is easily accessible to me, close enough that I can drive down there early in the morning, photograph for a few hours, and be home for a late lunch. (Yeah, I’m spoiled.) Some of my very earliest photography memories come from this part of the world, when I carried a simple camera on family trips to Point Lobos. At this point, decades later, you’d think that I’d know everything there is to know about the regions. But you’d be wrong. Virtually every time I go there I discover something new — a view I had not seen before, a new kind of atmosphere or light, a different way of looking at a familiar subject.

This photograph fits that last category. The location is a spot that I’ve stopped at for years, mostly to photograph a particular larger scene that includes a natural bridge, some sea stacks, and a bridge. (No, not _that_ bridge — I know which one you are thinking of!) On this early November visit I was a bit surprised by the size of the surf. Big surf is common in autumn through winter here, but I had not seen that it was in the forecast. To make this photograph I decided to leave out the thing that is usually my primary subject here and to include some things that I usually try to leave out! The photograph is, as a result, an example of letting some small, isolated element represent and perhaps evoke the experience of the larger landscape in which it is found.

---

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

---

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.