Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Winter Wave

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Winter Wave
“Winter Wave” — A winter storm wave breaks along the California coast.

This is another photo from the California coast during the recent period of extremely high surf. We spent an afternoon along the Pacific Coast Highway between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay, where the surf was absolutely huge — as large as I’ve ever seen it there. The waves were so big that their spray filled the air along the coast and even spread inland.

The day started out cloudy with light rain from a passing storm system. (The waves came from a different system that was still far out at sea.) As the day wore on the skies began to clear, and I made this photograph when blue skies were beginning to dominate. While the sky was clearing, the high surf remained and the spray still filled the air and softened the light.

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: Europe, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel

Overlooking The Duoro

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Overlooking The Duoro
The Duoro River winding through Porto, Portugal on a hazy afternoon.

You would be wrong if you thought that I had shared all of the photographs from our 2023 Europe travels! I came back with more than 5000 image files. I’ve traversed the full set a few times, and there are a lot more photographs there for me to finalize. This one comes from our stay in Porto, Portugal, on a warm late afternoon when a random walk took us past this viewpoint above the Duoro River, at a park where the locals were hanging out.

We wander quite a bit when we travel. In fact, just plain walking around and discovering things is probably our favorite activity. This has some downsides — sometimes our approach means that we miss important things. But there are benefits: we see things that folks on the usual tourist itinerary may miss, sometimes we end up talking to people, and we have an experience that is closer to discovering (rather than being led to) things.

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: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Meadowlark Song

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Meadowlark Song
“Meadowlark Song” — A meadowlark perches on a post and sings a New Year’s Day song.

We spent New Year’s Day with friends in a natural area full of birds. Mostly we were looking for big flocks of migratory geese along with cranes and ibises, but there were lots of other interesting critters in the neighborhood, too. This little meadowlark took up residence on top of a sign post and sang its heart out… and let me photograph for quite a while without flying away.

I don’t usually say much about photographic equipment in these posts, but I’ll make an exception this time. I have been using Fujifilm APS-C x-trans cameras for my travel and street photography for about a decade. (This gear compliments the Canon full-frame system that I use for things like landscape photography.) Recently I decided to try using the Fujifilm gear for some new things such as bird photography, and this was one of my first outings with a suitable Fujifilm telephoto. I think it works pretty well!

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: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Lone Tree, Morning

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Lone Tree, Morning
“Lone Tree, Morning” — A solitary tree silhouetted against dawn sky on a foggy morning.

I traveled to California’s Central Valley back in late December, when I saw a weather report calling for thick fog. Now normal people would specifically NOT choose to go there on one of its infamous fog days, when the tule fog can make driving nearly impossible. But I wanted to photograph in those conditions, so I headed over a few hours before sunrise. The fog was extremely thick along the way, and I was looking forward to even “worse” conditions at my destination. But a mile before I got there the fog thinned, dawn light shone through, and high clouds were visible in the soft light.

At first I was disappointed. I had gone to a lot of trouble to be there for fog, and now the fog was dissipating! But it didn’t take long to notice the compensatory visual appeal of the thinner haze and how it glowed in the early light. I found a slightly higher view point, located a lonely tree on the horizon, and made a few photographs.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.