Category Archives: Photographs: Ocean & Coast

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

Morning, Fog, Surf

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Morning, Fog, Surf, Big Sur
“Morning, Fog, Surf” — Bright morning light illuminates fog along the Big Sur coast as storm wave run up against the cliffs

The fog in this photograph doesn’t come from the usual source. Typically, along this section of California’s Big Sur coastline, fog rolls in from the ocean in big, fluffy, low-level clouds. That fog is a dark, damp, gray thing, and — with the exception of the moments while it is clearing — it generally does not let in much light. The “fog” in this photograph, which might more accurately be called mist or spray, comes from gigantic waves from a winter storm breaking along the coast in windy conditions. The waves produced this mist on this day of surf up to 40 feet high.

The photograph could also serve as an example of looking away from the most obvious thing. The location is at or just before a very popular and iconic stopping place along the Coast Highway in the Big Sur region. In fact, many people making a quick trip down from the north choose this spot as their turn-around point. I stopped a bit before the throng and pointed my lens in a different direction, down toward a familiar beach lying at the base of huge shoreline cliffs. The beach isn’t visible — the giant waves were so strong that they ran all the way up to the base of the cliff. I decided on a high key interpretation of this scene in order to reveal the glowing backlight slanting across the cliff from above.

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

Headlands, Surf, Natural Bridge

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Headlands. Surf, Natural Bridge
Storm surf raises spray among rocky headlands along the Big Sur coast

Headlands, Surf, Natural Bridge. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Storm surf raises spray among rocky headlands along the Big Sur coast

This is a scene that is very familiar to me at this point, though it is never exactly the same twice. Even when I try to resist the urge to rephotograph the familiar scene, I almost always end up stopping at least briefly. One reason is that I recall fondly the serendipitous story of the first time I photographed there. I had gone somewhere else initially, but it was too early for that location so I decided to go somewhere else before returning. I made a more or less random decision to head south — I think that a right turn was easier than a left — and headed down the coast to discover, to my surprise, that the surf was raising a cloud of spray along the shoreline. I happened to stop at this spot and I happened to have a new lens, without which the particular photograph would not have been possible.

Above, a mentioned that this location is never the same twice. I’ve been there in every season, during storms and fog and clearly, sunlit days. On the occasion when I made the photograph seen here it was rather nice weather, but the sea was angry, with swells of up to forty feet rolling onto the rocks and headlands, raising fog of ocean spray that was backlit by the low angle, late-autumn sun. I timed this exposure to be just after a big set of waves, and while the surf had calmed a bit the spray still filled the air.

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

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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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.