Tag Archives: big

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

Boulder and Eroded Cliff Face

May 8, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning sun backlights receding eroded ridges and boulder in the coastal mountains of California’s Big Sur coast.

I now am not quite certain where this exact spot was… but somewhere along the Big Sur coast in the area of Garrapata State Park – there is a pretty good chance that it is just a bit north of Rocky Creek bridge and just south of the actually Rock Creek. (Where there is a restaurant which has, or so I hear, a wonderful view and very high prices.) As I probably mentioned in photos I posted earlier from this May 1 shoot, one subject that I was pursuing was the morning light from the sun as it just barely topped the high and steep mountains along the coast highway. This creates at least two interesting conditions, and both are present in this photograph: diffused and hazy light as the sun shine though very thin fog rising up the canyons from the ocean, and thin lines of light along the tops of ridges and peaks.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: big, sur, eroded, ridge, grass, light, edge, atmospheric, recession, diagonal, lines, flora, plants, foliage, rock, boulder, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, california, usa, north america, haze, fog, morning, spring, gully, mountain, hill, valley, gully, stock

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

Big Sur Coastline Near Soberanes Canyon

May 7, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of rugged Big Sur coastline rocks and surf near Soberanes Canyon, Garrapata State Park, California.

One more rugged shoreline photograph from my May 1 visit to the Big Sur coastline. This area is within the confines of Garrapata State Park, and very close to Soberanes Canyon. (Those who know the Soberanes Canyon trail may recognize the old barn seen faintly through the foggy haze near the upper right corner of the frame.)

I love to follow the ridgelines of these coastal mountains all the way down to the surf. Them begin high up on the steep but rounded slopes and gradually become sharper as they descend toward the ocean, being cut deeply by the streams in the bottoms of their canyons. Just above the ocean the canyons are often quite steep, though there can be a bluff right above the drop-off to the water, too. Then, at the very lowest ends of these ridges, the ocean has its effect and the softer dirt and gravel that gives them their folded forms higher up is stripped away, leaving the broken and rugged underlying rocks and they disappear into the surf.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 200, f/16, 1/160 second

keywords: big, sur, coast, coastline, soberanes, canyon, creek, black and white, monochrome, rugged, rough, rock, surf, wave, foam, garrapata, state, park, california, usa, north america, bird, gull, barn, highway, cliff, bluff, island, seascape, sea, ocean, pacific, shore, shoreline, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, monterey, carmel, stock

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

Rugged Coastline, Big Sur

May 5, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of rough surf and rugged coastal rocks and cliffs along the Big Sur Coastline of California at Garrapata State Park.

This is, to my mind, an astonishingly rugged and wild bit of coastline at Garrapata State Park, south of Carmel, California in the northern section of the Big Sur coastline. I made the photograph from the edge of a bluff above the rocky coast, at a spot where I could shoot south along the shoreline and toward a section of coastline where the contour headed back towards the west. While it was a clear morning with only a bit of fog along the tops of the nearby hills, the surf was big enough to fill the air with a thin mist which created the atmospheric recession effect in this photograph.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 360mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/80 second

keywords: garrapata, state, beach, park, big, sur, rock, island, stack, cliff, outcropping, pacific, ocean, sea, shore, coast, shoreline, rugged, crashing, rough, surf, wave, foam, bird, atmospheric, recession, morning, light, black and white, monochrome, highway, one, seascape, landscape, nature, travel, scenic, stock

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

Redwood Grove, Morning Light – Muir Woods

April 27, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Morning light slants though the trunks of tall redwood trees near Bohemian Grove, Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I was surprised by somewhat sunny conditions on this mid-April visit to Muir Woods National Monument north of San Francisco, California. When I left my home in the South Bay very early in the morning it was quite cloudy, and the forecast was for even cloudier (and more persistently cloudy) conditions north of the Golden Gate Bridge. But as I drove through the City the clouds cleared to the north and by the time I was across the Golden Gate it was almost clear, with just a bit of nice high cloudiness to diffuse the light a bit.

I arrived at Muir Woods early enough that I got a parking spot in the closest lot. (Those who visit the place often and who are familiar with the crush of tourists later in the day understand what this means… ;-) As I usually do, I wanders slowly up the trail alongside Redwood Creek, taking in as much of the scene (visual, auditory, olfactory, etc.) as I looked for photographs. Eventually I made it to the bridge (Bridge #2) that crosses the creek just above the old Bohemian Grove. This is a spot where I often photograph if the crowds aren’t too bad – there is a lot to see right here! There are some deciduous trees whose leaves can catch the filtered light in interesting ways; the creek flows through, in places with ferns right down to the waterline; and there are lots of very tall redwood trees. I’ve been working on some photographs in landscape orientation that show groups for the trees, focusing primarily on their massive and parallel trunks – in fact, one from the series on this visit consists of a stitch of something like five horizontal frames. This one is more conventional and is a single exposure.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 200mm
ISO 200, f/16, .6 second

keywords: redwood, tree, grove, trunk, foreset, bohemian, muir, woods, national, monument, golden gate, recreation, area, trail, sequoia, sempervirens, tall, big, flora, foliage, nature, scenic, travel, san francisco, marin, county, california, usa, north america, morning, light, slant, stock

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