Big Sur Coastline, Winter. Coast Highway, California. February 9, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
Panoramic photograph of winter surf along the Big Sur coastline, California.
keywords: black and white, winter, surf, rocks, hills, mountain, coast, bridge, fence, waves, pacific, coast, ocean, highway, fog, mist, spray, sun, light, rugged, stock, travel, scenic, landscape, seascape, california, usa, panorama
Big Sur Mountains, Rocks, Fog, and Surf. Big Sur, California. February 9, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
A house sits on top of this hill above the Big Sur coastline at Bixby Bridge. If you look very closely, you can just make out the shape of Bixby Bridge through the fog.
keywords: big sur, monterey, california, usa, pacific, coast, highway, ocean, house, home, road, rocks, mountains, fog, mist, surf, waves, black and white, scenic, landscape, seascape, travel, stock, winter
I would love to claim that this photograph was the result of careful planning. But it wasn’t. I arrived too early at Point Lobos, and rather than waiting around, on a whim I decided to drive south. Here I encountered fog clinging to the coastline above huge Pacific winter surf—in fact, it was the surf creating this misty effect as the huge waves lifted spray into the air. This haze was only down by the water, and overhead the sky was crystal clear and the sun was shining. So, it was essentially by coincidence that I found myself in this spot at all, much less with all of these conditions in place.
Because it was morning and because the mist was very shallow, light from above shone into and through the fog, creating the light beams that cut diagonally through the scene. Although this spot is known to other photographers, I had not shot it before nor did I realize that I was there until after I happened to look around a spot this cave.
(This post and photo were revised in January of 2025.)
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Big Sur Fisherman, Winter Surf. Big Sur, California. February 9, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
This lone fisherman was sitting above the roiling winter surf of the Big Sur California coastline. With surroundings like this it really shouldn’t matter whether you catch anything!
One other comment: It occurred to me afterwards that this would be an entirely different photograph if the very small figure of the fisherman had not happened to be on that rock at the moment I was there to make the photograph.
keywords: fisherman, fishing, rod, pole, rock, man, person, rock, surf, waves, mist, fog, spray, swells, silhouette, big sur, pacific, ocean, coast, highway, seascape, landscape, travel, scenic, stock, black and white, california, usa