Category Archives: Photographs: Central California

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Point Sur, Headlands, And Beach

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Point Sur, Headlands, And Beach
Storm surf raises mist along the beach below headlands at Point Sur along the Pacific Coast Highway

Point Sur, Headlands, And Beach. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Storm surf raises mist along the beach below headlands at Point Sur along the Pacific Coast Highway

Point Sur provides one of the more striking landmarks along the Big Sur coastline, which is saying something in this area of wild landscapes where the sea and the mountains meet in dramatic fashion. It is located at what I regard as the upper end of the Big Sur coast, not all that far belong Carmel and still a bit north of the town of Big Sur. It is visible for a good distance both up and down the coast, as the unusual feature sits right at the edge of the water, connected to the mainland only by a narrow peninsula which, in places, is little more than a glorified beach.

The place also is the site of a historic coastal light house. Many years ago it was so isolated from civilization that the light house keepers and their families had to be there for months-long stints when they were out of touch with the larger world. Supplies were brought in by ship, the residents raised food in their own gardens, and aside from getting to nearby villages, it was a long trail to get to Monterey. I photographed it as I approached from the north, in a section of the Pacific Coast Highway that descends from a high headland area almost all the way down to the water line. On this day huge swells were coming ashore from storms in the northern Pacific Ocean.

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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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetland Dawn Clouds

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Wetland Dawn Clouds
A cloud-filled dawn sky reflected in the waters of a wetland pond

Wetland Dawn Clouds. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Somehow it seems appropriate to make a sunrise photograph the subject of the first post of a new year. In fact, I and a few friends have started a new tradition over the past few years — we meet every New Year’s Day before dawn to greet the literal dawn of the new year together. We make photographs, tell stories, share food and champagne, consider what the coming year may bring, enjoy the camaraderie, and perhaps even consider the fact that yet another year has passed. (Perhaps the only downside — or maybe it is an upside? — is that in order to make it to our meeting place before dawn we all have to get up so early than partying until midnight the evening before is pretty much out of the question.)

So, here’s my Happy New Year wish to you. I hope you have a great year, that you start it and end it among friends, that you visit interesting places, make new discoveries, and enjoy familiar wonders, too. If you are photographer, best wishes for finding a crop of new subjects and for making beautiful, compelling photographs of the new and the familiar. And to all, thanks for following my daily posts and my photography.

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

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Foliage, Wetlands

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Autumn Foliage, Wetlands
Autumn foliage and a reflecting pond under late Autumn skies

Autumn Foliage, Wetlands. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn foliage and a reflecting pond under late Autumn skies

Fall color varies a great deal from location to location. My East Coast friends remind  me that I haven’t seen anything quite like the forest-wide flood of color that happens there every fall — and they are probably right. (I still need to go to New England and photograph fall color. Too many subjects, too little time! ;-) On the other hand, we West Coast dwellers have a few special opportunities of our own, at least if we have learned where to look for them. One of these opportunities comes from the extraordinarily long color season.

I usually see my first indications of “fall” color in the Sierra as early as late-August. The first hints are subtle, but by halfway into September they are becoming pretty obvious, with the first aspens changing colors, and by early October the show in the Eastern Sierra is quite amazing. Because of the elevation range and north/south extent of the Sierra, the color lasts a long time — higher and more northerly color may come first, while lower elevation color may still be appearing over a month later. Once the aspens are done, the cottonwoods and other lower-elevation trees come into form. At the western Sierra foothill elevations the color can peak close to the beginning of November, and out in the Great Valley and closer to the coast there can still be excellent color in December! That’s when I photographed this group of trees, reflected in a pond and underneath autumn clouds… and at the peak of their seasonal color transformation.

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

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Beach, Evening Surf, Big Sur

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Beach, Evening Surf, Big Sur
Wnter surf rolls onto a Big Sur coastline beach at sunset.

Beach, Evening Surf, Big Sur. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter surf rolls onto a Big Sur coastline beach at sunset.

The Big Sur coastline, along the Pacific Coast Highway between San Francisco and Southern California is — not a secret! — a spectacular place. It is also a place of contrasts — between land and sea, between calm summers and stormy winters, between wild surf and quieter times. A week ago I visited during high surf, with waves of up to forty feet high battering the shoreline. This time, as we took the look route back north from Los Angeles, the ocean was quiet.

Since we were driving through and photography wasn’t my primary reason for being there, we took the scenery as it came. During the final hour of daylight I began to think about finding a spot to stop and photograph the last few minutes of light. With ten minutes to spare we came around a headland and I saw this familiar scene of coastal mountains and bays extending to the north, with the Pacific Coast Highway (and one of its famous bridges) dwarfed by the landscape. I quickly found a spot along the edge of the bluff to set p my tripod, and I had a few minutes to photograph gentle evening color and coastal haze before an offshore cloud bank “turned out the lights.”

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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