Tag Archives: clear

Photographs: Nature

Sunset Rain, California Valley

Image Leave a comment
Sunset Rain, California Valley
Spring rain dissipates over mountains near California Valley at sunset.

Sunset Rain, California Valley. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring rain dissipates over mountains near California Valley at sunset.

Early spring (and sometimes the tail end of winter)offers some of the most interesting weather in California. Summers tend to be somewhat bland from a photographic perspective, at least in places where nearly endless blue sky days are the norm. Winter storms are powerful, but follow a predictable path for the most part. But as we transition from the wet season to the dry one we have an increased chance of experiencing hail, sudden downpours, rainbows, lightning and thunder, and rapid transitions between clouds and sun, all playing out over the green spring landscape.

A year ago I was at an area of inland hills where wildflowers can bloom in extraordinary ways when the conditions are just right. It was a day featuring that dynamic, changing weather. In the evening I went to a spot where a valley began to ascend toward hills, from which I could see across the valley toward distant hills. As the sun appeared under the clouds to the west near sunset, the golden light illuminated sheets of rain falling over the mountains.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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: Wildlife

Tree With Two Hawks, Fog

Image Leave a comment

Morning tule fog clears beyond a tree with a pair of hawks

Tree With Two Hawks, Fog. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning tule fog clears beyond a tree with a pair of hawks

I was in this location to photograph something quite different from what is seen here, but tule fog interfered with that subject to some extent. So I found myself wandering a bit more afield and looking for other subjects. Eventually the fog began to thin and drift away.

This solitary tree appeared against the background of a long grove of (mostly) cottonwood trees, and the thinning fog began to allow light from the morning sky into the scene. Initially I simply saw the tree itself as the subject, but as I composed the photograph I realized that a pair of hawks for perched side-by-side on one of the limbs.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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

Coastal Bluffs, Clearing Fog

Image Leave a comment

Coastal Bluffs, Clearing Fog
A coastal inversion layer is visible as fog thins above the rugged Big Sur coastline

Coastal Bluffs, Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A coastal inversion layer is visible as fog thins above the rugged Big Sur coastline

The quality of the Big Sur coast is, I think, the sum of a lot of contributing factors. As you drive south (my usual direction of approach, as a San Francisco Bay Area resident), the expanse of the Pacific Ocean extends to your right, and it may be brilliantly lit, completely fogged in, full of storm clouds, or just plain blue. Because the route alternately drops to the water level and climbs up above the headlands, this view expands and contracts. Surprisingly, it can be quite warm here, especially when the fog clears on a summer day and the road climbs. Views may be intimate as you pass through forested sections and around tight turns, or they may stretch to the horizon and far to the north and south.

On this mid-summer visit remnants of fog were still dissipating as I passed through. In places it sat thickly on hilltops, while elsewhere it had cleared and the light was brilliantly bright. This view appeared as I began my descent from one of the high places, and the top of the coastal inversion was clearly visible.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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

Pacific Ocean, Clearing Fog

Image Leave a comment

Pacific Ocean, Clearing Fog
Fog clears over the Big Sur coastline near Point Sur and the Little Sur River

Pacific Ocean, Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fog clears over the Big Sur coastline near Point Sur and the Little Sur River

It has been over a year since big landslides and bridge collapses during the very wet 2016-17 rainy season completely closed the Pacific coast highway though the rugged Big Sur region below Monterey. It is the nature of this roadway, which in places clings precipitously above the ocean, to suffer regular closures, but most of them are quite temporary. This time, however, two of them were quite major. A bridge just south of the town of Big Sur lost its structural integrity when one of its support columns slipped — it had to be knocked down and a new bridge constructed. That bridge opened up months ago, giving better access from the north — and letting me get to my favorite Big Sur Bakery! But another slide much further south, near the small town of Gorda, presented much bigger challenges. A good part of a mountain slipped down into the Pacific, creating a major engineering and construction issue.

The good news is that the route re-opened this past week. I decided to wait past the weekend — with its inevitable tourist traffic — and head down there today. I went as far as a few miles beyond the southern slide before turning around to retrace my route back to the north. (One unfortunate realization – the Monterey Peninsula has now become a virtual suburb of Silicon Valley, with traffic jams and the works. Even on a Monday, when the weekend crowds are gone, there were just too many people on the coast highway by the middle of the day as I started my return trip.) I made the photograph at a location I’ve shot many times before, the outlet of the Little Sur River near Point Sur. Each time I go here I look for new overlooks, trying to find a slightly different view of the scene, and today I tried several new ones. Bonus: On a July day when temperatures inland were in the ninety degree range and higher… coastal fog dropped the temperature here to the low sixty degree range!

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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