Tag Archives: coast

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

Forest, Ridge, and Haze

December 13, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning haze mutes the details of forested coastal ridges along the California coast

Yes, yet another of the December black and white photographs — inspired by all of the black and white “challenge” posting going on right now. This photograph comes from 2010 when I made one of my frequent visits to the Point Lobos area along the California coast south of Monterey, an area that I have visited for decades. The typical focus of those visits is the shoreline itself, which is very spectacular here and which produces a wide range of moods throughout the year.

The photograph was made at Point Lobos, but much of what you see is not actually in this state park. The foreground forest is, but the high coastal hills rising beyond are outside the park. As beautiful as the ocean is, there is a lot to see if you turn your eyes in the opposite direction, too! On this morning there was high, thin cloudiness along with a great deal of backlit atmospheric haze — perhaps my favorite conditions for photographing scenes like this one! The haze glows in the backlight, and it mutes the smaller “busy” features of the landscape, allowing the larger forms to be seen more clearly… and perhaps evoking a sense of mystery.

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.

Morning Musings

Morning Musings for 8/30/14

August 30, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Today a few thoughts, in no particular order…

The photo – I made the photograph attached to this post a few years back on a winter day along the California coast. It is here today for those who
a) want to see something non-urban (see below)
b) join me in looking ahead to the cooler season and its interesting weather and light
c) love the California coast.
d) share in “all of the above.”

You can read more about this photograph here. (As always, a big “thank you!” to the unknown surfers who walked across just the right spot on the beach at just the right time on just the right day in just the right conditions. ;-)

Articles at the blog – In addition to sharing my photography, I share a lot of written material here at the blog: technique, locations, equipment reviews, and more. Some — but not yet all — of these articles are listed on my Articles page. Have at it!

Urban photography at the blog — The urban and street photography thread is going to continue for just a bit longer — Chicago is up next. For those of you who enjoy such things, thanks! For those of you who prefer the landscape and nature photography, it will be back. (And, like me, you might even enjoy the look at different subjects from the usual — I find that looking outside of my favorites often helps me see more clearly.)

Projects — I have some upcoming plans to get back into the wild world relatively soon. This should, among other things, lead to new landscape photographs. And the need for a shower.

Aspens and fall color – Fall colors are arriving very soon. In fact, hints are already about if you look in the right places. Here in California the aspen color should begin in about another month or so, though in this drought period things may not evolve in quite the typical ways. I’ll have more to say about how I view this season’s prospects toward the middle of September. (For now, read more about Sierra Nevada fall color here: Sierra Nevada Fall Color Season – Coming Sooner Than You Think)

Morning Musings – “Morning Musings” comprise a series of mostly off-the-cuff posts on various subjects — whatever comes to mind at the time I write them. They may appear as frequently as every day or sometimes they not appear for a while.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Napping Elephant Seals

August 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A crowd of elephant seals napping on the beach near Point Piedras Blancas

This is (yet another!) photograph of elephant seals lolling about on the beach near Point Piedras Blancas just south of the Big Sur coastline. This location is well-known for providing easy access to viewing of these remarkable animals. They are found in many other locations along the coast now that their numbers have recovered, but in most places access is much more difficult. Here there is an “elephant seal nursery” mere feet for the Pacific Coast Highway, with short observation trails that give good views of the action and which protect both the seals and the human visitors.

I visited a bit earlier in this season when the pups were still rather small. This visit was almost an afterthought — after a morning of photographing landscapes and seascapes along the Big Sur coast I found myself at the southern end of this area with a few hours to kill in midday light, so I decided to drive a bit further and visit the seals. There were not nearly as many there at this later point in the season, but there were still plenty for me to make photographs. Images of the animals lying almost motionless on the sand not only evoke our own pleasant thoughts of doing the same thing (!) but they can also create a false impression that the lives of these creatures are lives of ease. In fact, the reality seems quite a bit different. In contrast to what seems like a life as a big chunk of sleeping blubber, these animals become quite sleek and graceful once in the water — where I understand that they have to be on the lookout in order to avoid become a snack for a great white shark!

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

Elephant Seals, Point Piedras Blancas

August 16, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Elephant seals massed along the edge of the beach at Point Piedras Blancas, California

Photographing elephant seals was not originally port of my (somewhat vague) plan when I set out for the Big Sur coast on this one day outing. I started out fairly early heading south, figuring that I would just stop at whatever seemed interesting along the way. It was quite foggy across the Salinas Valley near the outlet of the Salinas River, so I wasn’t sure what I would find on the coast. But when I got there the fog was thinning quickly, so I had a lot of opportunities for seascape/landscape photography along the periphery of the fog. Continuing south I eventually “ran out of fog” and as it became midday the light was less inspiring, so I set a new goal of looking for lunch! After lunch I continue south a bit more and crossed the lowlands south of Ragged Point.

As I drove past the elephant seal viewing area, which I had last visited in the winter when the newborn seals were still there, I was a little surprised to find a decent number of seals. Since the good light for photography on the return drive was still a ways off, I figured that photographing elephant seals was as good of a way to spend an hour as any so I stopped and made some photographs. The place is quite different without all of the newborn seals. There were far fewer seals and almost all were relatively large. Mostly they lay around, either up on the beach a ways or else lined up side to side right at the waterline as this group is doing.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: coast

Forest, Ridge, and Haze

Morning Musings for 8/30/14

Elephant Seals, Point Piedras Blancas

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