Category Archives: Photographs: Central California

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

Land’s End, December Mist

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Land's End, December Mist
December fog and light along the Pacific Coast Highway, Big Sur.

Land’s End, December Mist. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

December fog and light along the Pacific Coast Highway, Big Sur.

This was a wild and unusual early-December morning along the Big Sur coast. I drove down early on a crisp and clear morning, having heard that the surf might by quite large. Below Carmel I began to see the evidence — first the low coastal fog that rises above the surf on such mornings and soon the actual waves. I continued south, stopping at various points along the way to photograph into the fog and the raging surf.

This kind of fog has several special characteristics. When the sun is behind it, as it is in the morning along this section of the coastline, the hazy atmosphere glows magically. The intensity of this glow, combined with the opacity of fog, drains the colors from the scene, and in places the world looks almost monochromatic. This fog, being thin, still allows fairly long views, though most of the fine details of the landscape are invisible, leaving the larger features to become more apparent. In this location the Pacific Coast Highway runs precipitously along the edge of steep cliffs over the ocean, and the rugged coastline breaks apart into cliffs and sea stacks.

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.

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

Point Sur, December Sky

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Point Sur, December Sky
High clouds, brilliant reflecting light on the water, and fog at Point Sur.

Point Sur, December Sky. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

High clouds, brilliant reflecting light on the water, and fog at Point Sur.

There is a lot of “accepted wisdom” about photography that turns out to be not quite true when you stop and consider your actual picture-making experience..Yesterday I was having a conversation with a photographer friend (Hi, Charlie!) about various things, including the way that some photographs don’t quite make sense to us until we return to them long after making the original exposure. If one ideal is to pre-visualize the photograph perfectly (and I do believe in the value of pre-visualizing), then it would seem that being surprised months or years later to find that a forgotten image works is hard to explain. But it happens — quite a lot, actually. One of my ideas about this is that at first we are too invested in what we believe the photograph to be that we are unable to look beyond that and see what it actually is.

All of this is a long way of getting to a point about this photograph. When I first viewed it right after the day I visited the Big Sur coast, I had a hard time with certain aspects of the light and the color and, to a lesser extent, the way it was framed. Originally I settled on a black and white interpretation. (Yes, a neat way of copping out about the color issues!) Recently I went back and looked at it again, and this is the result. I ended up with a slightly different crop, some work to lighten portions of the scene, and some new thinking about color of clouds and sky and about how to handle the bright yet low contrast reflections on the water out near 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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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

Headlands and Fog

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Headlands and Fog
Thin fog and brilliant autumn sun along the Big Sur coast.

Headlands and Fog. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thin fog and brilliant autumn sun along the Big Sur coast.

Today’s photograph takes me even deeper into the high key and minimalist landscape frames of reference. For a long time I have been intrigued by the question of just how little detail could be present in a photograph, and the conditions on this morning gave me an opportunity to extend the experiment to the subject of the Big Sur coast.

The light, weather, and geography here often collaborate to produce some remarkable conditions. The potential for various sorts of fog is a given along the edge of the Pacific Ocean. In many sections of this coast the headland ridges descend toward the water repeatedly over huge distances. And because the coast curves a bit toward the east as you travel south, by late morning the sun may be almost directly ahead of you as you compose photographs that include the ocean. I think of this as “the light that is too intense to look at.” Imagine the sun in front of you, the haze glowing brightly, and the details of the scene becoming almost invisible, leaving only the light, atmosphere, and outlines of forms.

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.

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

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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 Leaves, Central Valley

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Autumn Leaves, Central Valley
Autumn leaves litter the ground at a remote location in California’s Central Valley.

Autumn Leaves, Central Valley. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn leaves litter the ground at a remote location in California’s Central Valley.

Every August I begin to anticipate autumn. Yes, I know. It isn’t August until tomorrow. But bear with me. Summer is nice, but it is not my favorite season. I’ll concede that it is the time of home grown tomatoes, warm evenings, easy outdoor time, and more. But when it comes to my favorite season, it is more or less a toss-up between autumn and winter — and if pressed I think I would have to come down on the side of autumn. Even here in California, autumn brings the promise (and eventually the reality) of cooler temperatures, along with more interesting and varied weather and a color change that rivals that of spring.

This photograph comes from very late fall last year, on an early December morning when I was out in California’s Great Central Valley to photograph a rather different subject. I had arrived before dawn. It was cold and there was frost here and there. After photographing through sunrise I paused for breakfast and a cup of coffee… and looked down to see this little patch of autumn.

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.

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