Category Archives: Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Departing The Golden Gate

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Departing The Golden Gate
A ship and barge head out off the Golden Gate and into a Pacific Ocean sunset.

Departing The Golden Gate. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A ship and barge head out off the Golden Gate and into a Pacific Ocean sunset.

Oddly, so many photographs seem to have a different and unexpected context in this time of social distancing and relative confinement to our homes and neighborhoods. Some photographers are moving to photographs of things in or around their homes. (I’ve done a bit of that, too.) Some are reaching back into their image archives to discover photographs that they/we had left behind. And a few are ignoring the guidelines and heading out into the field… or else taking advantage of the loosening of restrictions as the new announcements come out. (I’m hoping for a bit of that soon, too!)

Although the evening of this photograph was eight years ago, I recall it fairly well. I had been photographing somewhere else north of the Golden Gate. I started back home in the late afternoon, pausing in this area before crossing the bridge to San Francisco — the timing was fortuitously right to be here at sunset. It was an evening of beautiful sky, with bands of clouds stretching to the horizon as a ship and barge headed out into the 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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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

Pacific Sky

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Pacific Sky
Pacific Ocean sky, California Coast.

Pacific Sky. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pacific Ocean sky, California Coast.

One of the things I miss most during this time of travel restrictions is the chance to be in the grand landscape, the landscape of deserts, mountains, ocean, and valleys that extends into the far distance. I do get outside daily, for neighborhood walks and to work in our garden, but all of these are landscapes on a much smaller scale.

I made this photograph last year on a foray down the California coast, where I can never get enough of the grand westward views out over the ocean and toward the distant horizon. On this day the scene was softened by big clouds and atmospheric haze over the ocean that glowed in the sunlight.

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.

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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, Photographs: Travel

Big Sur Coast, Clearing Fog

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Big Sur Coast, Clearing Fog
Clearing fog pulls back to the upper slopes of coastal hills along the Big Sur coast.

Big Sur Coast, Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clearing fog pulls back to the upper slopes of coastal hills along the Big Sur coast.

As we follow the California “shelter-in-place” order, I’m photographing very locally and to digging back into my raw file archives. I try to do the latter at least once per year, and I am just now reviewing the 2019 files. Every time I do this I discover photographs that I originally overlooked or that I neglected as I moved on to other projects. I’m convinced that we see our own photographs differently a year or two later, and photographs that were not quite what we thought we wanted originally turn out to be interesting when viewed without the context of having just made them.

This photograph comes from a one-day visit to the Big Sur coastline just a few days short of a year ago. I remember it well. It was a day of tricky and challenging light as an early spring weather front moved down the coast. I traveled quickly, trying to stay near the leading edge of the clouds. At this spot just south of the town of Big Sur the surface of the Pacific Ocean glowed brilliantly in muted sun, the steep cliffs were in shadow, and fog was clearing from the upper slopes of coastal mountains.

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.

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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

Pacific Horizon, Weather Front

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Pacific Horizon, Weather Front
Cloud shadows on the surface of the Pacific Ocean as an incoming storm front darkens the skies above the horizon.

Pacific Horizon, Weather Front. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cloud shadows on the surface of the Pacific Ocean as an incoming storm front darkens the skies above the horizon.

This is a familiar scene to me, as I’ve have been visiting this section of the California coast for decades. The location is along the Big Sur coast, though it could be any number of places where it is possible to get up high and find an open view toward the horizon and the sun. On this day there was a thin overcast from the leading edge of an incoming Pacific weather system, and it did a fine job of casting shadows on the water and muting the brightest reflections.

For me these scenes always encourage a certain kind of stillness and thoughtfulness. As a person who has spent next-to-no time on the ocean, looking across these immense distances toward the horizon causes me to ponder the scale of the Pacific Ocean. Lower down at the waters edge, my attention goes to sand and surf and rocks — but up higher it extends much further outward.

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.