Tag Archives: cliff

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

Beneath The Fog

Image August 28, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Pacific Ocean bluffs beneath summer fog, Big Sur coast

We often photograph this coast when it is sunny, and even then we tend to photograph at the colorful early morning and evening hours. The light at those times and in those conditions is, indeed, amazing, and who could blame photographers for seeking it out? In addition, along the Big Sur coast the clearer skies often produce great vistas that stretch over immense distances.

I often wonder how people who are familiar with this area from photographs and guide books — with their sunny photographs — must respond when they discover that fog is very common, especially during the prime summer tourist months. In fact, much of the California coast is like this — it can be (and was on the day I made this photograph) ninety degrees or hotter a few miles inland and cold, windy, and foggy along the immediate coast. I made this photograph right at one of the best known and most iconic locations along the Big Sur coast, but in these more typical foggy conditions.

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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

Big Sur Coast Headlands

Image August 16, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thinning fog over the Big Sur coast beyond rugged headlands

This was a particularly “quiet” section of the coast on the day I visited. Elsewhere the wind was blowing, sometimes pushing fog across the roadway, and often making photography a bit of a challenge. But here there was shelter from the wind, and the ocean was relatively calm. A fog bank lay across the water in the distance, though it was nearly gone as the day warmed up.

There are impressive headlands all along this section of the Pacific Coast Highway through the Big Sur coast, but this area just south of the town of Big Sur has some of the tallest and steepest sections. I often take this landscape for granted, as I have lived nearby for almost my entire life — and then, every so often, it hits me that it must be one of the most monumental meetings of land and sea on the planet, both for the rugged landscape itself and for the distance across which it stretches.

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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

Beach, Mouth of Little Sur River

Image August 12, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cloud shadows on water as fog dissipates above Point Sur and beaches near the outlet of the Little Sur River

In many locations along the Big Sur coast on this mid-summer morning, the fog was breaking up as I drove south from the Monterey area, heading for the newly reopened section of the Pacific Coast Highway near the small town of Gorda. I stopped as I came to this familiar sight — a place where the road descends and provides a series of evolving views of the beaches near the mouth of the Little Sur River near Point Sur.

As the clouds begin to thin, alternating bands of light and shadow move across the landscape, and from moment to moment this changes to scene. I tried to time this photograph for a moment when key features of the landscape were illuminated — the curving beach, sections of the shallow ocean, and some of the more distant headlands.

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

Coastal Bluffs, Clearing Fog

Image August 8, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: cliff

Beneath The Fog

Big Sur Coast Headlands

Beach, Mouth of Little Sur River

Coastal Bluffs, Clearing Fog

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