Tag Archives: california

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

Whalers Cabin, Point Lobos

August 6, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hidden behind a grove of trees, the Whalers Cabin sits on a bluff above Whalers Cove at Point Lobos

For may years I have visiting Point Lobos, the increasingly popular (and sometimes over-run) California coastal reserve along the Pacific Coast just south of Carmel. Decades ago my family visited when I was a child — I recall picnicking there, but most of all I remember exploring the tide pools and descending a steep old trail to a small beach that is now closed. While I knew limited areas of the reserve very well, there were other sections that I simply never visited: some of the forest trails, a few areas close to Monastery Beach and others.

One of the places that, oddly, I never visited was the little “Whalers Cabin” set back on the bluff above Whalers Cove, a sheltered and often placid bay that is protected from the surf of the open ocean. I visited the cove, and I’ve photographed there in the past, but I always went right past the cabin without stopping. This summer I finally stopped in and looked around a bit. As I understand it, whalers may have used the place, but so did fisherman. Today it is a small museum, and (as far as I know) the only very old historic structure still remaining in the park.

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

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

Low Tide, Fog, Drakes Estero

August 5, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thinning fog above Drakes Estero at low tide

I spend a mid-July day hiking — at least once I had completed my obligatory bakery stop at Point Reyes Station — a route at Point Reyes National Seashore that I’ve had my eyes on for some time. It is a trail that starts in the upper recesses of Drakes Estero and, if you turn at the right junctions, finally goes all the way to headlands above Drakes Bay. I had, in fact, started this hike at least once in the past, but always a bit spontaneously and too late in the day, and each time I had turned back before completing it. This time I planned more carefully, and I was on the trail in plenty of time to complete the round trip.

This is a spare landscape, mostly without the vertical scale of places like the Sierra or even of the Big Sur coastline. Bare bluffs run along the peninsula that runs out toward the actual “point,” and the view extends more in the horizontal than the vertical direction. But what it lacks in vertical relief, this landscape can make up for as a canvas on which effects of atmosphere and light may play. My plan was to begin my hike at about the time the morning fog broke up, and to then follow the fog/sun line as in moved toward the coast. I was not entirely successful (it never did clear at the coast) but I timed it just about right for the start of the walk. This photograph comes from that early section of the route, when the clear sky above the dissipating clouds reflected its blue color onto the waters of the estero.

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

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Evening Storm Clouds, Mountains

August 3, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening thunderstorm clouds begin to break up above high desert mountains east of the Sierra Nevada at sunset

The Sierra Nevada, being more out of the path of the seasonal monsoonal flows that beset the Southwest, often experiences clear weather — sometimes too clear! Most photographers prefer a more interesting sky, and we can actually be heard complaining about too much nice weather at times. But periodically the atmospheric flows shift northward and westward a bit, and we do see thunderstorm weather in the Sierra. Most of us love this, and we look forward to “interesting skies” when it happens. The clouds often build up over the crest and they can then spread east or sometimes west as the day wears on. Mostly the clouds will clear out late in the day, but sometimes when they drift to the east of the range the electrical show may continue into the evening.

I experienced some of this “interesting weather” on my recent visit to the Sierra around the northeastern portion of Yosemite. It actually turned out to be more interesting than expected, when a forecast of clearing on day two of my trip morphed into a forecast to daily thunderstorm chances. On one afternoon I took a hike up an east side canyon, and on my return I was surprised to find that there was rain falling near the mouth of the canyon. Before long in rained and hailed on me, and these appeared to be the kinds of clouds that might stick around into the evening. I decided to forego dinner, instead finding a high overlook and photographing the cloud show right on through sunset and into the post-sunset blue hour.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

High Country, Dawn

August 2, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Just before sunrise, soft light and colorful sky above Yosemite high-country peaks, forest, and meadow.

Sometimes landscape and nature photographers enjoy complaining about certain things required to be in the right places at the right times in order to make photographs of their intended subjects. So, here is a story. The previous day I had been out photographing until the light was gone, and then had to travel back to my dark camp. By the time I finished camp business, it was quite late, and by the time I got to sleep it was less-than-a-full-night’s-sleep until the time I would have to get up. But get up I did, well before dawn. I dressed in the cold and darkness, soon heading out with no coffee or breakfast while the sky was still dark. Before long I began to find potential subjects, even though the light was not yet quite “there.”

Now, behind that story (complaining? false heroism?) is another truth: I feel fortunate to be able to do this! As I ventured out, I found myself almost entirely alone. Even though I was driving on a very popular high country road, I saw almost no one else. Before long the bluish earth shadow line began to drop toward the horizon behind these peaks, and I stopped at a little meadow I know well. Although it is next to the roadway, it was almost completely silent and still, and the meadow plants were covered with dew. I photographed as this brief show of sky color began to fade, and as I finished I thought about the number of people who only come to these places in the middle of the day, and who therefore miss the color and the quiet and the solitude. Is it worth getting out of my sleeping bag in the predawn darkness? Yes!

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: california

Whalers Cabin, Point Lobos

Low Tide, Fog, Drakes Estero

Evening Storm Clouds, Mountains

High Country, Dawn

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