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Muir Woods Winter Solstice 2008

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Winter Solstice at Muir Woods

Winter Solstice at Muir Woods. Muir Woods National Monument, California. December 21, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Last December I first found out about this wonderful annual event at Muir Woods – a winter solstice festival. Although the event starts in the afternoon (officially at 3:00 p.m.), the real fun at sunset and after dark when the trails are lined with luminaria. (Or “candles in paper bags” to those who don’t speak Latin.)

Depending upon the weather, this could be a good day for SF Bay Area photographers to combine winter photography at Muir Woods with a bit of night photography. 

The following information is summarized from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy events listing:

Celebrate the longest night of the year with the tallest trees on earth!

Sunday, December 21, 2008, 3 PM – 8 PM, Muir Woods. Cost: Free

This outdoor program is suitable for all ages and will begin at the Visitor Center…rain or shine. Activities and events include the making of solstice crowns, a stage performance of songs, stories, and puppetry, and walking the trails of Muir Woods lit by luminaria. No reservations required.

This evening can be dark and chilly; we ask visitors to bring a flashlight, dress warmly (layers/blankets), and bring a mug for warm drinks. For details, please call the hotline at (415) 388-2596 as the date approaches.

Unless the weather is really, really awful I plan to be there.

Locations

Looks Like a Great Day for Winter Photography in The Valley

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From time to time I like to take a look at the Yosemite webcam showing the view of Ahwahnee Meadow and Half Dome to see what the conditions are like. Go ahead, take a look… I’ll wait…

As I post this afternoon it looks like fine photography conditions in the Valley today! The new snow is still on many of the trees, but the snow is not so deep as to make it too difficult to get around.

But I’m not there! (My son and I need to finally put up the Christmas lights in front of the house this afternoon.)

Locations

‘Tis the Season for California Coastal Photography

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While summer is beautiful along the northern and central California coast – at least when everything isn’t fogged in! – my favorite time is the winter season. While I photograph the coast near the San Francisco Bay Area all year long, all too often summer here alternates between heavy coastal fog and (boring!) perfect sunshine.

Winter conditions are far more varied and interesting for photography. If fog is your thing, you get several types of fog here during the winter months. You can encounter the usual ocean fog, though it is not as frequent as during the summer months. But we also have ground-hugging tule fog, which is caused by relatively warm moisture on the ground (often following rainfall) forming low fog during cool conditions. While this is more common inland, it can affect areas near the coast as well. One of my favorite fog effects is one I’ve only seen during the winter; it is caused when huge pacific waves break on the coast in just the right conditions, forming a low lying mist right near the shoreline and sometimes paired with brilliantly sunny skies overhead.

The ocean itself is also more compelling during the winter. When the northern Pacific Ocean becomes stormy – even when the storms are a long way off – huge swells roll into the California coastline. (It is for this reason that the famous Mavericks surf contest is held in winter off the coast below San Francisco.) These waves are often 20 feet tall and sometimes much higher. Combine them with some very spectular coastline (I’ll mention a few places below) and stunning photography is possible.

In addition, as Pacific weather fronts come through, and especially as they pass inland and begin to clear, really wonderful cloud conditions occur along the coast. If you want to go for the obvious, pick a day of high surf as a Pacific front is clearing late in the day and – go for it! – shoot at sunset.

I’m fortunate to live a bit more than an hour from the Monterey Peninsula, so I head down that way if it looks like I’ll have good conditions on a give day. Point Lobos – where I photographed last weekend during high surf – is a common destination, but I’ll head south a bit further into the upper Big Sur area if I have time. Even closer, the coastline between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay provides outstanding, though sometimes less obvious, locations. Heading north, there are many options, but the Point Reyes area is often best photographed this time of year.

If you follow this blog, you know that I was at Point Lobos last week – I’ve posted several photographs from that visit already and there are a few more in the pipeline.

Locations

A Quick Aspen Report

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I’m in Bishop, California as I write this – taking advantage of a wireless connection point in a coffee shop and offloading RAW files to my laptop. While I’m waiting, how about a quick aspen report?

I drove up on Friday, arriving in Bishop rather late – fortunately I had made a reservation at a cheap hotel rather than doing my usual camping thing. An early-season front came in over night. I felt the first of it as I stopped at Tioga Pass on the way over, and the wind was howling as it only does when a front is coming in.

I was up way before dawn on Saturday and on the road to North Lake. The stars were out in Bishop, but clouds were extending out from the Sierra crest, and by the time I got to North Lake it was cloudy and gray. However, the air was still and since I like shooting in the very earliest light I got my gear out and started to work. I could see that the well-know aspen grove extending up the opposite hill from teh lake was in good shape. Within minutes the wind whipped up and it began to rain – and the rain quickly turned to snow. Not great shooting conditions, so I got back in my car and holed up waiting for a break.

Within an hour the weather broke a bit, turning into intermittent light snow, partial clearing, occasional sun, and wind, wind, wind. That big aspen grove on the other side of the lake appeared to lose half of its leaves in the first hour or two of this wind! That said, there are some great colors along the road at North Lake right now – but I think these leaves won’t last a long time.

Later in the day I went up toward South Lake, and the colors along this road were quite good just about everywhere, although the lowest trees in the valley had not turned yet. I’d say that this area is in its prime right now with only a few good days left in the upper section.

This morning I went back to North Lake and later visited Sabrina Lake. There were still wonderful colors throughout this area, with conditions ranging from some trees that have lost most leaves (something I like to photographs) to some that are still almost all green.

It was interesting to note how quickly the leaves change. The area around Aspendell, which is lower in the canyon, has seemed completely green yesterday. Today the section right above Aspendell was showing a lot of color, and some was starting to appear in the large grove at Aspendell itself.

Later today I’ll head back north, perhaps stopping at McGee Creek and/or the Rock Creek area, both of which I’ve been told have some very good colors. Then I’ll pass through the Conway Summit/Virginia Lake area before continuing north, with a current plan of shooting at Monitor Pass in the early evening.