Tag Archives: clouds

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

Western Horizon

August 11, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This photograph begins a series from recent photographs of the Big Sur coast along the Pacific Coast Highway in California. After a week of being cooped up at home (which construction work was underway) I was itching to get out into the (more) real world, so I took a day for a long, all-day trip down this coast and back to make photographs. The trip reminded me of a lot of things, but among them was how wonderful it is, on a day of terrible inland heat, to be able to hug this coast where it remained cool and damp!

I’m one of those who is fascinated by the brilliant sunlit ocean surface and the way that it can recede towards an almost invisible horizon when the combination of light and atmospheric haze is just right. The high bluffs along this route can be excellent places to observe this and more.* At times the surface of the ocean takes on the appearance of molten metal and is almost too bright to look at. I always watch for these conditions when I am in this area, and I was not disappointed on this visit. In this scene, a group of passing thin clouds provides a visual counterpoint to the brilliant reflection on the ocean’s surface.

The “and more” I’m thinking of refers to an unbelievable California coastal experience that I shared with a number of other visitors at the end of this day. There are few other places in the world where you can pause at the top of cliffs hundreds of feet above the open sea at sunset, and watch for perhaps a half hour as a pod of gray whales assembles to feed, periodically breaching.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Clouds Rest, With Resting Clouds

August 8, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter evening clouds swirl around the snow-covered ridge of Clouds Rest, Yosemite

This will be the final photograph in this recent series of winter Yosemite Valley photographs from our late-winter 2014 visit to the park. As I hope for when I go there at this time of year, there was interesting and variable light, clouds that ranged from scattered to socked-in, the usual assortment of meadows and trees and rocks. We had the better part of three days to explore.

On this evening we ended up at that most iconic of iconic landscapes in Yosemite, the Tunnel View overlook. I often either pass by Tunnel View, or perhaps stop and get out to look around a bit before heading on. Being lucky enough to live a reasonable drive from the park and to visit the Sierra often, I’ve become a bit more selective about when I’ll stop there and take out the camera. On this visit, as clouds came in, many of the other potential subjects in the Valley were under rather poor light, so I guessed that there was a chance that we might “get something” (or maybe not) from this higher overlook. The clouds were challenging. At times they obscured many interesting things, and most of the time the interesting light was blocked. However, for a few moments they cleared partially at the far end of the Valley and it was briefly possible to see the sunlit and snow-covered slopes of Clouds Rest and a few other points in the distance.

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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Clouds Rest and Quarter Dome, Winter

August 4, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early evening light breaks through winter mists shrouding the snow-covered summits of Clouds Rest and Quarter Dome, Yosemite National Park

In Yosemite Valley in late winter for the opening of the Yosemite Renaissance exhibit, I had several days of photographing in and around the Valley in winter conditions — or what passed for winter in this year of California drought. There had been snow a few days earlier, to the surrounding peaks and upper Valley walls were coated with white. As late afternoon arrived it was time to go photograph, but it seemed that the clouds were likely to kill the light in the Valley, so we headed higher.

From this elevated overlook there is, of course, a famous view of the stupendous panorama of Yosemite Valley. However, I’ve taken to mostly photographing smaller bits of the scene rather than continuing to photograph the whole darned thing — most of the time, though there are exceptions. As we watched, there were a lot of clouds. Some floated across high landmarks at the far end of the Valley. Others drifted upwards along closer rocky faces. Fog began to collect in spots along the valley floor. Clouds to the west of the Valley mostly blocked direct sunlight, which can be a good thing when it softens the light, but is much trickier and occasionally disappointing when it blocks it entirely. Shooting with a very long focal length I was able to focus on this small scene at the far end of the Valley, where drifting clouds parted enough to reveal a partially obscured view of sunlight on the snowy slopes of Clouds Rest and Quarter Dome.

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

Red, White, and Blue Hour

August 1, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The last red sunset light falls on a forested ridge in front of snow topped Half Dome in blue dusk light

This past winter I was in Yosemite Valley for a few days for the opening of the Yosemite Renaissance Exhibit, and I had many opportunities to head out and photograph the Valley in beautiful foggy, cloudy conditions, with a bit of snow still remaining from earlier storms. (I also had a great time meeting up with plenty of other friends and photographers who were also there for this event and a simultaneous film festival.)

Sometimes I know what I want to photograph in the Valley, and I simply to look for that thing, often knowing exactly where to go find it. But in conditions such as those of this weekend, which included a lot of clouds and changing light, sometimes it was impossible to know for sure what the conditions were going to do. See fog developing? Head for a high place or a meadow. Possibility of sunset color? Perhaps one of the well-known Valley views. Clouds swirling around the upper ridges? Get out a long lens and shoot from innumerable locations. Soft sunlight? Perhaps time to photograph trees and granite. On this evening a number of us ended up at that most iconic of iconic Yosemite locations, Tunnel View. For the last few years, I’ve been playing a slightly different game at Tunnel View when I end up there, often shooting with very long focal lengths and trying to pick out small bits and pieces of the larger scene. I had been doing that and had pretty much wrapped up for the evening, since the light seemed to be dying behind clouds to the west, and in fact I was loading equipment into the car when my wife said, more or less, “Look at that!” A band of intensely red end-of-sunset light had found its way through a gap in the clouds to the west and suddenly cast an intense glow across this ridge standing between me and Half Dome. So we have red (of sun on ridge), white (of snow) and blue (of the blue hour light on Half Dome and the clouds above).

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: clouds

Western Horizon

Clouds Rest, With Resting Clouds

Clouds Rest and Quarter Dome, Winter

Red, White, and Blue Hour

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