Tag Archives: beach

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

Mendocino Bay, Morning

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Mendocino Bay, Morning
Waves wash onto the shoreline of Mendocino Bay on a foggy morning.

Mendocino Bay, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Waves wash onto the shoreline of Mendocino Bay on a foggy morning.

Recently I returned to the photographs from this visit to the North Coast of California, on which we spent a few days in Mendocino. This little town presents an interesting dichotomy between the old-school funky, hippiness of that part of the state and the semi-yuppified element that has grown in more recent years. In a sense, you “see it all” in this place.

On this visit we stayed in town, not more than a couple of minutes walk from the bluffs overlooking the bay just south of the peninsula on which the town sits. On this morning we wandered over there in the morning before the morning fog and haze had completely clearer, and I made a series of photographs looking inland along these bluffs to the outlet of the river that drains into the bay.

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: Ocean & Coast

Surf, Fog, and Peninsula

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Surf, Fog, and Peninsula
A peninsula disappears into coastal fog beyond a surf-filled bay along California’s rugged Big Sur coast.

Surf, Fog, and Peninsula. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A peninsula disappears into coastal fog beyond a surf-filled bay along California’s rugged Big Sur coast.

Aside from a few camping trips in relatively remote places, we hardly travelled at all between March of 2020 and the beginning of May 2021. I managed to spend a little time in the Eastern Sierra last fall, I had a great visit to Death Valley back in early April, I’ve gotten to the coast a few times, and I did manage one-day trips to photograph birds — but that’s it. So our recent multi-day (and multi-purpose, though that’s a different story…) trip down the California coast and back to visit Southern California was quite special. We planned to go south on route 1, but we then decided to add a night on the return trip so that we could go back home the same way. This photograph comes from a stop along that coastline on a very foggy day.

The region we call the “Big Sur Coast” (from my perspective, encompassing the section from about Point Lobos south to the lower bluffs below Ragged Point) has had a string of tough years. Flooding has repeatedly closed the route, wildfires scorched huge areas, and businesses have suffered. There are numerous causes for the situation, ranging from climate change to increasing tourism, but the place has been changed. On the other hand, the route is open now, and the spell of this rugged section of Pacific coast is as strong as ever.

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

Bluffs, Surf, and Haze

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Bluffs, Surf, and Haze
Thin fog obscures distant views beyond coastal bluffs and waves along the Pacific Coast of California.

Bluffs, Surf, and Haze. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thin fog obscures distant views beyond coastal bluffs and waves along the Pacific Coast of California.

The scenes like this one that I photograph, visit and revisit… the more clear is the contrast between their timeless nature and the way we live our lives. This photograph comes from over almost a decade ago — which either feels like a very short time or a very long time right now — but it could have come from virtually any time in the past. There’s nothing obvious in it to link to any particular time.

The scene likely feels familiar to anyone who lives near or visits locations where coastal flatlands run up against the edge of the continent. The sea eventually wins the inevitable battle, and in the process produces a stark contrast between gentle, flat bluffs and the cliffs at their edges, which drop precipitously into the ocean and leave behind sea stacks and small islands. On this evening the sea was rather quiet and a thin fog was beginning to obscure distant views.

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

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

Winter Surf and Coastal Bluffs

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Winter Surf and Coastal Bluffs
Winter surf rolls in beneath steep shoreline bluffs along the rugged Big Sur coast of California.

Winter Surf and Coastal Bluffs. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter surf rolls in beneath steep shoreline bluffs along the rugged Big Sur coast of California.

Although I have been down this section of California’s spectacular coast in the past few weeks, this photograph comes from a few years ago — in a very different time when many of the things causing tumult in our world were almost inconceivable. Among them, back then the idea that a pandemic might change our attitudes about traveling to such places was not even on our radar. Let’s hope that we can return to a world more like that one soon.

I think of this as a somewhat generic photograph of the Big Sur coastline — not because it isn’t a spot of great beauty, but because such places are everywhere along this part of the western edge of the continent. The sun was out on this late winter day, but storms out in the Pacific had brought impressively large waves, raising a thin layer of sea spray along the edge of the water.

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 | 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.