Tag Archives: big sur

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

Big Sur Headlands, Autumn Light and Fog

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Big Sur Headlands, Autumn Light and Fog
Thinning fog, brilliant autumn sunlight , and receding headlands along the rugged Big Sur coast.

Big Sur Headlands, Autumn Light and Fog. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thinning fog, brilliant autumn sunlight , and receding headlands along the rugged Big Sur coast.

This is a spot that I visit on virtually every trip to the Big Sur Coast. The place where I pull over and find this view is not a spot where you would likely consider stopping. The view is not really all that visible from the roadway, and I think I first found it by spotting the subject from another place and speculating about where I might need to go to find the angle I was looking for… and then successively trying a series of pull-outs until I found one that worked. I know — figuring out which wide spot on the road to use for my camera position sort of diminishes the romance of the whole thing!

But this view! There is a series of tall and steep headlands that fall directly to the Pacific Ocean here. Beyond there is a shallow bay, and then the coast curves back toward the ocean in the distance. The formation of the successive headlands is mirrored in a series of successive ridges running from the ocean back toward peaks. Of course, based on the photograph I made on this visit you will have to take some of this on faith since you cannot see it. Because the coastline here gradually heads further east as it goes south, by late morning the sun’s light reflects off the water, and when there is a bit of fog, as on this day, the effect is remarkable. The atmosphere truly glows, and it is almost too bright to look at. Since I have photographed this before, I’ll point out that that there are two features of this rendition that are a bit different. First, that glowing fog is unusual. Second, I decided to go with a bit broader composition here, and I included the sweep of the darker near ridge at the bottom of the frame.

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

Fog, Surf, and Rocks Near Rocky Creek

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Fog, Surf, and Rocks Near Rocky Creek
Morning light on fog and mist over the Big Sur coast near Rocky Creek.

Fog, Surf, and Rocks Near Rocky Creek. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on fog and mist over the Big Sur coast near Rocky Creek.

This post begins with a confession. I have probably photographed this particular scene too many times. I first photographed it quite a few years ago, on a morning when I happened to stop along the Big Sur coastline and notice this particular juxtaposition of features. On that first visit I came up with images that I still regard as quite good, perhaps even among my best from this area. At that point I figured that I was more or less done with the subject, though I continued to pause there and look. Which of course meant that eventually a day came when something new and different appeared there… and I made different sort of photograph of the location that also seems pretty good.

At about this point I started to consider the dangers of going back and re-photographing the same familiar subject. (Among other things, it can distract a photographer from finding new subjects since re-shooting the familiar thing can be easier.) I continued to stop and occasionally make a casual photograph, but mostly did nothing with those images, preferring to work on new subjects in the area. But when I visited on this early November morning the scene seemed particularly spectacular, with a combination of high surf, thin fog, and intense backlight… and I could not resist. So, here it is… yet another take on this scene.

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

Rocks, Spray, and Light Beams

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Rocks, Spray, and Light Beams
Beams of morning light slant through spray thrown up by waves crashing on rocks along the Big Sur coast.

Rocks, Spray, and Light Beams. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Beams of morning light slant through spray thrown up by waves crashing on rocks along the Big Sur coast.

California’s Big Sur Coast is easily accessible to me, close enough that I can drive down there early in the morning, photograph for a few hours, and be home for a late lunch. (Yeah, I’m spoiled.) Some of my very earliest photography memories come from this part of the world, when I carried a simple camera on family trips to Point Lobos. At this point, decades later, you’d think that I’d know everything there is to know about the regions. But you’d be wrong. Virtually every time I go there I discover something new — a view I had not seen before, a new kind of atmosphere or light, a different way of looking at a familiar subject.

This photograph fits that last category. The location is a spot that I’ve stopped at for years, mostly to photograph a particular larger scene that includes a natural bridge, some sea stacks, and a bridge. (No, not _that_ bridge — I know which one you are thinking of!) On this early November visit I was a bit surprised by the size of the surf. Big surf is common in autumn through winter here, but I had not seen that it was in the forecast. To make this photograph I decided to leave out the thing that is usually my primary subject here and to include some things that I usually try to leave out! The photograph is, as a result, an example of letting some small, isolated element represent and perhaps evoke the experience of the larger landscape in which it is found.

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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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

Edge of the Pacific

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Edge of the Pacific
Boulders and surf under clearing fog along the Big Sur coast.

Edge of the Pacific. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Boulders and surf under clearing fog along the Big Sur coast.

This photograph likely looks a bit… ambiguous. In fact, it was that sort of day along this section of the California coast. I’m generally a fan of fog when I go to photograph there, but getting just the right amount of fog in the right places takes a bit of luck — we don’t control that! I was hoping for the kind of day that starts with thick, mysterious fog but then transitions to clearing, gradually revealing features as the sun begins to appear. But that fog never fully cleared. (At one point as I was photographing a disappointed tourist stopped and more or less asked me where the Pacific Ocean was and whether or not he might be able to see it.)

Later in the afternoon the fog did begin to diminish a bit, but it remained right up against the coast. In many places when I positioned myself to photograph over the ocean, the sun was shining on the hills directly behind me as I pointed the camera into the murk at the edge fo the land. In this spot the fog had sufficiently thinned right at the coast and I was able to make out rocks right at the water’s edge… but the fog obscured and muted the more distant ocean. That distant, fuzzy line near the top of the frame is some vague, opaque combination of the horizon and fog.

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.