Tag Archives: clouds

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

Sea Stacks, Rocky Point

December 28, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Sea stacks dot the rugged Big Sur coastline at Rocky Point in evening light.

Continuing with the theme of evening light on the Big Sur coastline, I made this photograph along a favorite section of this portion of the California coast not long before sunset. (I left enough time after photographing this scene to drive back up the coast to more or less the small road-cut just visible in the upper right corner of the frame, from which I made another photograph shooting back into a large cove that is out of the range of this photograph to the right.) At this time, perhaps a half hour or so before sunset, the color of the light was warming and intensifying but had not yet reached that obviously red stage that comes right at and right after actual sunset.

The peninsula in the upper part of the photograph is known as Rocky Point and, among other things, is a spot many may know because of a restaurant perched there above these stunning views of the Pacific coast. (I hear it is pricey!) My camera position was at a pull-out along the Pacific Coast Highway at a spot where the road rises to pass around another bit of land that extends to the west, and this high camera position let me aim the camera down to minimize the sky and fill the frame with the ocean, the rocky sea stacks and cliffs, and the “point” itself. With the main variable being the unpredictable patterns in the surf, I made a series of exposures at what I thought might be likely moments and then selected from among them in post. I like the series of diagonal lines in the foreground surf and the way the low sun picks off the tops of the waves.

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

Merry Christmas 2011!

December 25, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yosemite Valley, New Snow, Morning - Classic winter view of snow-covered Yosemite Valley scene photographed from Wawona Tunnel View after a late-winter storm.

Merry Christmas 2011!

It has been a bit of a tradition to post a photograph of Yosemite Valley in snow on Christmas Day – it seems like the Sierra way to send seasons greetings! I hope that you and yours are having a wonderful holiday!

(The photograph was made on the morning after a late-winter snow storm in The Valley back in 2006.)

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

San Francisco Skyline, Pre-Dawn Sky

December 12, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Pre-dawn sky begins to light the skyline of San Francisco, California.

While at San Francisco’s Crissy Field to photograph the lunar eclipse over the Golden Gate Bridge I realized that this unusual celestial phenomenon was by no means the only worthy subject at this early morning hour. Meanwhile, there was a beautiful and mysterious sunrise developing in the eastern sky beyond the City and over the East Bay, enhanced by a lot of atmospheric haze. (This was the same haze that ultimately caused the eclipsed moon to fade to invisibility shortly after the sky began to lighten.) So, while 99% of the photographers were still pointing their lenses west, I (along with a few other folks) pointed east and toward this section of the San Francisco skyline in roughly the Knob Hill and Russian Hill areas, with the familiar shape of the Transamerica pyramid partially hidden behind closer buildings and some typical San Francisco neighborhood buildings and trees up close at the bottom.

Yet again, this scene reinforced the idea that it is always important to look around at the whole scene. It is so easy to become completely focused on the single subject that you started out with – and sometimes this is a good thing! – that you may overlook other worthy subjects in other directions. I still have to remind myself sometimes to look up and scan my surroundings to see what else might be worth photographing.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Alcatraz Island, Dawn Sky

December 11, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Dawn light gently lights the morning clouds about San Francisco Bay haze and Alcatraz island.

After photographing the lunar eclipse over the Golden Gate Bridge – along with many hundreds of other photographers – I stuck around and turned my attention to other subjects, too. As sky began to lighten with the approaching dawn, and the eclipsed moon sank into the high clouds and generally murky atmosphere over the Pacific coast, I began to see other photographers look around and notice other elements of this urban landscape. But, surprisingly the larger number simply packed up their gear and left as soon as it became hard to see the moon!

I was quite surprised, to say the least. One one hand, it was something to see that so many photographers and other viewers had gotten up at a very early pre-dawn hour just to assemble and together watch this celestial event. On the other, once along the shore of this beautiful bay at sunrise on a mysteriously hazy morning, I’d expect that they might want to look around and try to sustain the experience. (OK, it was cold. They probably wanted coffee. And breakfast. But, still!) In any case, within a surprisingly short period of time, where people had been lined up almost tripod-to-tripod a few minutes earlier, there were few at all left to see the sunrise color come to the high clouds above the bay, here with the misty shape of Alcatraz along the horizon.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: clouds

Sea Stacks, Rocky Point

Merry Christmas 2011!

San Francisco Skyline, Pre-Dawn Sky

Alcatraz Island, Dawn Sky

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