Tag Archives: blue

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Point Arena Lighthouse

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Point Arena Lighthouse - The Point Arena Lighthouse stands atop rugged coastal bluffs along the northern California coast.
The Point Arena Lighthouse stands atop rugged coastal bluffs along the northern California coast.

Point Arena Lighthouse. Northern California. August 29, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Point Arena Lighthouse stands atop rugged coastal bluffs along the northern California coast.

I have only visited the Point Arena Lighthouse one other time. This is symptomatic of the fact that I have overlooked the far northern coast of California. I suppose I’ve been too busy with the Sierra and other areas in this state full of visual riches, but since “discovering” the northern coastal areas I have become much more interested in photographing there.

This visit was during the middle of the day and the sky was almost completely clear – not exactly stirring conditions for photographing such a scene. So I spent some time looking at locations and angles and possible composition, at least partly with an eye to returning yet again but during a time of more interesting lighting – this location might be spectacular in the right late day light, and dawn isn’t out of the question.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Ocean & Coast

Blue Water, Beach and Bluffs, Mendocino

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Blue Water, Beach and Bluffs, Mendocino - Beach and shoreline bluffs above the blue water of Mendocino Bay, California
Beach and shoreline bluffs above the blue water of Mendocino Bay, California

Blue Water, Beach and Bluffs, Mendocino. Mendocino, California. August 28, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Beach and shoreline bluffs above the blue water of Mendocino Bay, California.

This photograph was made on the beach along the shoreline of Mendocino Bay, beneath the tall bluffs that line the area. The land extends to the west and curves a bit to the south, allowing me to photograph back along the curving beach, toward the inlet of the river that drains into the bay and the forested hills beyond. The light was interesting – fog was coming in along the coast and was overhead at my camera position, but clear just inland of me. This created soft and somewhat gray light on the foreground water, but allowed the further hills and forest to be in the light. It also made the interesting reflection on the calm water more visible.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Weathered Blue Building, Fences, and Plants

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Weathered Blue Building, Fences, and Plants - A weathered blue building with fences and plants in evening light, Mendocino, California.
A weathered blue building with fences and plants in evening light, Mendocino, California.

Weathered Blue Building, Fences, and Plants. Mendocino, California. August 28, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A weathered blue building with fences and plants in evening light, Mendocino, California.

I had been thinking that I really should photograph some of the old, weathered buildings in Mendocino while we were there, but it just seemed like I was never quite in the right spot in the right light with the right amount of time – so, for the most part, while we were there recently I mostly just talked about how “sometime I should really photograph some of these old buildings.” Sound familiar? The village is full of various kinds of interesting places: severe-looking old churches, badly weathered older buildings, neatly restored and updated homes and businesses, old shops, and vignettes of old windows, fences, gates, and more.

In the evening we decided to walk out toward the coastal bluffs southwest of the village, with the plan of photographing the bluffs, coastal rocks, surf, and ocean in golden hour light. As we walked along a boardwalk toward the water I looked to my right and saw this very weathered old building, with its surrealistic garden of very strange shaped, well, what exactly? Trees? Bushes? Whatever they are, with their conical shapes, their twisting trunks, and odd angles they seem like they could be the model for some of the plants in a Dr. Seuss book. I was a block away when I spotted the scene, and the low angle side light was about to be cut off, so I simply set up where I was and made a few photographs – using a very unusual architecture lens, a 100-400mm zoom! This actually turned out to be a good choice – and not just because I would have lost the light if I had switched to a shorter lens and run toward the building. The long focal length flattens the depth of the elements of the image and draws them together. It also eliminated the perspective convergence that often causes walls and other vertical elements to slant inward. Do I worked quickly, and managed to get this shot while the side light was still illuminating one of the odd plants and highlighting parts of the worn fences in the foreground.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Ocean & Coast

Fog and Blue Sky, Drakes Bay

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Fog and Blue Sky, Drakes Bay - Fog intrudes on blue sky over Drakes Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore
Fog intrudes on blue sky over Drakes Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore

Fog and Blue Sky, Drakes Bay. Point Reyes National Seashore, California. August 18, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fog intrudes on blue sky over Drakes Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore.

One more “minimal seascape” from my mid-August visit to Point Reyes National Seashore – a short visit of mostly an afternoon, on which I headed to Limantour looking for sun along the coast. That’s not quite what I found – but you can never be sure what the weather will do along this section of the Pacific coastline. Descending on the final bit of road to the beach, it was apparent that I was going to be dealing with fog. This photograph is looking more or less southwest, but straight to the west and to the northwest things were already completely socked in. After making this photograph I finished the drive to Limantour and then took a walk out toward some of the nearby estuaries – and that entire walk was under fog and in cold wind.

I have been doing a series of minimal seascape photographs for some time now, making a few more images of this type whenever I happen to be near the coast and conditions are right. These photographs are a bit trickier than they might appear. It almost looks like I could just point that camera out toward the ocean and make them – and, in fact, when I started this it almost seemed like it might be that easy. Before long I figured out that if I worked that way I would end up with… photos that looked like I just pointed the camera out toward the ocean. So I look for scenes, usually involving some sort of clouds, fog, or mist and often some interesting lighting that seem to create, for the most part, nice stable images that may have a bit more going on in them if you have time to look closely, and which also usually might evoke some sense of the calm and stability of the sea. Here I was mostly interested in the clouds, but I decided to anchor the sky to just a thin strip of water, darker blue but also partly obscured by the lower edge of the fog bank. I aimed toward a boundary area between the blue sky and the thicker fog, and captured an area of transition where both sky and fog are in play. Believe it or not, there was a fair amount of work to be done in post, including getting the right amounts of contrast and pushing the brightest parts of the clouds just far enough to create a feeling of light, but not so far as to look fake.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.