Tag Archives: coast

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

Estero de Limantour

July 26, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A foggy day at Estero de Limantour, as viewed from Drakes Head, Point Reyes National Seashore

This post is a bit about this photograph and a bit about the experiences that such photographs are embedded in. The location is a somewhat remote location at Point Reyes National Seashore — the hike out and back runs about 13 miles or so. I have wanted to visit this spot for a number of years, but every time I have started the hike it has been too late in the day to complete the round-trip, or else I was distracted by other photographic opportunities along the way and I did not get all the way to the destination. This time I arrived early enough and got on the trail right away, and I did not stop too much along the way.

What did I find at the end of this long walk? The trail ends dramatically with a slight rise to a high point on a promontory overlooking Estero de Limantour far below, and the expanse of Drakes Bay beyond that. Or so I imagine. When I got there it was very foggy and extremely windy, and at times the water in this photograph was obscured by fog. Because the clouds had been breaking up further inland I decided to wait here in anticipation that the clearing would make it all the way to the coast. After waiting for an hour and a half (!) the fog began to lift and I could start to make out the water beyond the sandy island running along the shoreline. I jumped up and made preparations for the glorious breakup of the clouds… and then the wind picked up, the fog closed in, and it began to drizzle! I made this photograph during a slightly clearer moment. Before I loaded up the pack for the hike back I remembered that great light doesn’t always arrive, that you must be out there a lot if you expect to see it when it happens, if you are out there a lot you will experience lots of “failures,” and that even on a day that might not be optimally photographic there is nothing at all wrong with spending and hour and a half on a windswept bluff engulfed by ocean fog.

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

Monterey Cypress, Cove

July 24, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two Monterey cypress trees on a bluff about a Point Lobos cove

This section of the northern coast of California’s Point Lobos State Reserve provides a number of striking views and overlooks, though many of them are at least partially obscured by the trees that grow thickly on the bluffs above cliffs that drop steeply down to the water. I often work my way very slowly through this part of the park — there is too much to see!

I paused at a bend in the trail and then decided to take a short dead-end lateral trail towards an overlook. Almost there, I looked to my right and saw this view down to the cove and its rocky surroundings, framed (or blocked?) by two cliff-hugging Monterey cypress trees. As I set up to photograph, two deer quietly walked up and stood between me and the scene for a moment!

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

Fog, Trees, Knoll

July 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Monterey Cypress trees on a rocky knoll above the Pacific Ocean in foggy morning light, Point Lobos

Driving to Point Lobos from the San Francisco Bay Area in the early morning, I was not quite sure what conditions I would find. The forecast was for fog, clearing out before noon, but you can hardly ever tell for sure how this will evolve. A few days early I had been here on a day with a similar forecast and it never cleared. On this morning, however, it turned out that the fog was actually thicker inland, and it turned out that it cleared at the coast first!

We hiked over to the north shore trail, starting at a bluff above Whalers Cove, then climbing up to the higher bluffs that skirt the north shore of the park above steep and rocky cliffs that drop straight down to coastal coves. At first the fog was gray and almost oppressive. One can photograph in such conditions, but it is difficult to work the flat light. But very soon something much better began to arrive. As the fog cleared and the fog/sun boundary moved across the shore, the foggy atmosphere began to glow, and even in this soft light the colors began to intensify.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Shoreline Bluffs, Forest

July 19, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Forested bluffs drop straight down to the rugged shoreline along the north shore of Point Lobos

For the second time in less than a week I made it back to Point Lobos State Reserve again. After several days of very hot inland temperatures here in the San Francisco Bay Area, Point Lobos was attractive destination not only for its photogenic scenery but also for the promise of cool morning maritime fog. We encountered the fog well before we arrived, but perhaps an hour later it began to clear from the immediate coast, and I had perhaps a half hour of beautiful mixed light along the boundary between sun and fog.

I made this photograph at a location I know very well along the north shore trail at Point Lobos. When I was there late last week I photographed while it was still foggy and the soft light filled in the shadows. Today the filtered sunlight created more dramatic shadows, but a bit of lingering fog muted the intensity of the light and colors in the forest on the bluff above the rocky cliffs.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: coast

Estero de Limantour

Monterey Cypress, Cove

Fog, Trees, Knoll

Shoreline Bluffs, Forest

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