Tag Archives: america

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.

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

Photographer, Raging Surf

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Photographer, Raging Surf
A photographer stands on headlands bluffs to photograph huge Big Sur swells

Photographer, Raging Surf. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A photographer stands on headlands bluffs to photograph huge Big Sur swells

On this day of gigantic Pacific Coast surf, I stopped at the first location I came to that afforded close access to the bluffs above the raging surf. I grabbed camera, one lens, and tripod and set out on one of the informal use trails between the Pacific Coast Highway and the surf, eventually finding a side trail that took me to a spectacular overlook with views to the south across the surf and into the light. (I mostly shoot “contre jour,” or into the light in these conditions, since that enhances the light on the mist and waves, among other reasons.) Soon it was time to move on, so I packed up and started back up to my car.

At the top of the trail I took one last look before packing and moving on to my next location. As I did I saw a photographer on the spine of one of the ridges running toward the sea, and noticed that he was backed by some truly astounding surf. So I quickly held up, put my tripod back up again, and made a few exposures as he stood against the background of the huge waves.

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

Headlands And Mist

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Headlands And Mist
Strong late-autumn surf raises clouds of mist above rocky headlands along the Big Sur coast.

Headlands and Mist. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Strong late-autumn surf raises clouds of mist above rocky headlands along the Big Sur coast.

Today I continue with photographs from my visit to the upper Big Sur coastline in the middle of December, on a day when distant Gulf of Alaska weather fronts were sending giant surf crashing against the beaches, sea stacks, and cliffs. This is perhaps my favorite set of conditions for California coastal photography — a clear, post-storm day with giant surf that raises a layer of mist along the shoreline. When I see reports of such conditions I try my best to get over there quickly!

On the drive down, even as I passed Monterey Bay I could see the effects on the water. Waves in the bay didn’t seem unusually large, but off in the distance I could see the land at the northwest end of the Monterey Peninsula where gigantic white breakers created a line against the horizon. Once I got south of Carmel and right next to the coast the picture was even clearer, and I soon stopped on a bluff to get “up close and personal” (but from a safe spot) with the show. I made this photograph a bit further south in a spot that I’ve photographed many times. Here there is a view across several rocky ribs at the water’s edge and on to a taller hill beyond — and I know this as a spot with great potential for surf and light and for raising clouds of spray and mist.

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Dawn Clouds, Reflection

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Dawn Clouds, Reflection
Dawn light on clouds, reflected in a wetland pond

Dawn Clouds, Reflection. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light on clouds, reflected in a wetland pond

Sometimes the morning world surprises you. This was one of those times. I went to this place hoping that I might be ahead of an incoming weather front that was approaching from the northwest, but as the first light began to glow it was clear that I was going to be under the clouds. They covered almost the entire sky and promised to produce pretty gray conditions.

However, I did notice a very thin opening far to the east, between a mountain range and the far edge of the cloud shield. This is a condition which can, somewhat ironically, produce a brief burst of spectacular color right at sunrise (or sunset, if the break is in the west) that can be truly stunning. Basically, against a backdrop of largely dark conditions, the light will briefly shine upwards onto the clouds just as the sun reaches the horizon, sometimes producing some of the most intense light you’ll see — though the effect typically lasts only a few minutes and then the “lights go out” again quite quickly. On this morning I was next to a shallow body of water, so the show was twice as good — the colorful sky was reflected on the surface of that post.

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

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

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