Tag Archives: big

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Forest, Gazos Creek

July 14, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Today I used the excuse of driving my son over the hill to UC-Santa Cruz for his summer school class to get in a short trip up the coast north of Santa Cruz. We are in the midst of the “June gloom” period along the coast of northern California, and the fog doesn’t clear until later in the day, and never does clear completely in some areas. As I left Santa Cruz the fog bank was visible but well off-shore, but as I travelled north I eventually encountered it right around Año Nuevo State Reserve.

I had a vague plan to check out Gazos Creek Road, having heard from some other photographers that there are interesting redwood trees and other subjects in that area. Since I still had some time, I turned up the road and it quickly narrowed as it followed the creek and the bottom of the canyon into the Santa Cruz Mountains. Since this was more or less a scouting trip, I drove all the way to the end of the road without stopping much, but on the way back down I decided to stop and make some photographs of this grove of new-grown coast redwoods mixed with the curving trunks of big leaf maple trees.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Pelican Flock, Waddell Creek Beach

June 19, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of pelicans turns toward Waddell Creek Beach along the Pacific coast of California.

This group was photographed a few seconds before I photographed the single overhead pelican that I posted a couple of days ago. Here the flock had turned back towards the land in preparation for rising to the edge of a much higher bluff just to the north.

Since I so recently described the circumstances of this shoot, I’ll keep this text short!

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cascade Creek Spring Torrent

June 2, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small tree stands in the raging spring torrent of Cascade Creek, Yosemite National Park.

This may be the final photograph in this series I shot in early May when I visited this seasonal cascade on the way into Yosemite Valley. Compared to some of the others this one takes in a larger portion of the scene, mainly so that I could include the little leafless tree or bush at the lower left, as it stands against the tremendous force of the rushing water descending steeply among the rocks.

This creek is fed by seasonal snow melt fairly early in the season because the ares that feed its flow are at a relatively lower elevation. For a while each year, but especially in a wet year like this one, this little creek rages as it drops precipitously down this narrow canyon towards a point below where it flows into the Merced River. A bridge provides an interesting vantage point from which to shoot almost directly down into the torrent.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

‘Rim of the World’ Overlook, Morning

May 26, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The view toward Yosemite and the High Sierra from the ‘Rim of the World’ overlook above the Tuolumne River canyon along highway 120.

‘Rim of the World’ is the name given to a scenic overlook above the deep valley of the Tuolumne River along route 120, the northern route into Yosemite National Park. It is something of an odd place. It is a fairly pedestrian traffic pullout, though it overlooks the immense and impressively deep canyon of the Tuolumne. But the view is at least partially obstructed by things like power lines. However, it is a view that on clear days can extend great distances to very high Sierra peaks.

I most often simply blow past the spot on my way to or from the park. However, on this morning as I passed I thought the low morning light looked interesting so I found a spot to turn around and drove back. There was a bit of high cloudiness, and the light was coming across the folds of these foreground hills from the right, lighting up various bits of ridge and trees and illuminating the morning haze enough to amplify the effect of distance. If I’m not mistaken, the further ridge with its faintly seen snow fields is in the area of Mount Hoffman.

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