Tag Archives: coast

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Green and Red Leaves

September 2, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Green and red leaves in Mendocino, California suggest the coming of autumn.

I really wish I knew what plant this is… but I don’t! What I do know, however, is that when I spotted it growing along the edge of a building in Mendocino, California, the red and yellow tinge coming to the lush green leaves made me think of autumn and how close the end of summer is. Even in California, the signs that the seasons are in transition are more and more obvious when you look around just a bit. Not only do the colors begin to change on some plants, especially in cooler areas like Mendocino (and in higher elevation areas like the Sierra) but other signs appear to those who have learned to recognize them. There is a change in the light. I’ve never been quite able to quantify it, but it may be something about lower sun angles or perhaps the increasingly soft atmosphere that often seems a bit more hazy.

While this might seem like a photograph of a natural area, perhaps along a trail somewhere, I’m afraid it isn’t. No matter where I am, I often keep my eyes open for little scenes in unexpected places that might make a photograph, and this is certainly one of those. As I passed along the side of a small shop in Mendocino, I saw these plants in a very small planter next to a wall. I quickly pulled out my camera and made a single hand-held shot in this beautiful, soft light created by foggy sky and a bit of a bit of shade.

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

Island, Coastal Bluffs, and Distant Shore

September 1, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A steep and rocky island backed by coastal bluffs and a distant shoreline, northern California coast, Mendocino County.

The last time I passed by this section of the California coast highway in Mendocino County, I also stopped to photograph this scene – but was less happy with the result. This section of the coastline, like much of the meeting between California and the Pacific Ocean, consists largely of high coastal bluffs, interspersed with the steep canyons where creeks and rivers meet the ocean, with many rocky islands ranging from tiny to huge. The two-peaked island in this large cove fits more into the huge category and it is backed by two fingers of land where the high bluffs extend toward the ocean. In the far distance, a section of curving coastline is barely visible through the haze.

Recently someone asked me about how I decide whether a photograph will be black and white rather than color. I admitted – and it turns out that many feel the same – that often I am not certain when I make the exposure. Roughly speaking, the black and white photographs come about in perhaps three ways. Sometimes I like the subject but the color rendition just isn’t working the way I had hoped, so I try it in black and white and “discover” that I like it that way in post. On other occasions, at the time of exposure I sort of wonder if it might work in black and white and I make mental note to try it that way in post. In the third case, I “know” (with only a small amount of doubt) that the image is going to end up in black and white and I shoot the scene with that in mind. This is one of those photographs – I was almost certain that it would end up in black and white as I stood high on a bluff next to highway 1 making the exposure.

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

Fog and Blue Sky, Drakes Bay

August 29, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fog intrudes on blue sky over Drakes Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore.

One more “minimal seascape” from my mid-August visit to Point Reyes National Seashore – a short visit of mostly an afternoon, on which I headed to Limantour looking for sun along the coast. That’s not quite what I found – but you can never be sure what the weather will do along this section of the Pacific coastline. Descending on the final bit of road to the beach, it was apparent that I was going to be dealing with fog. This photograph is looking more or less southwest, but straight to the west and to the northwest things were already completely socked in. After making this photograph I finished the drive to Limantour and then took a walk out toward some of the nearby estuaries – and that entire walk was under fog and in cold wind.

I have been doing a series of minimal seascape photographs for some time now, making a few more images of this type whenever I happen to be near the coast and conditions are right. These photographs are a bit trickier than they might appear. It almost looks like I could just point that camera out toward the ocean and make them – and, in fact, when I started this it almost seemed like it might be that easy. Before long I figured out that if I worked that way I would end up with… photos that looked like I just pointed the camera out toward the ocean. So I look for scenes, usually involving some sort of clouds, fog, or mist and often some interesting lighting that seem to create, for the most part, nice stable images that may have a bit more going on in them if you have time to look closely, and which also usually might evoke some sense of the calm and stability of the sea. Here I was mostly interested in the clouds, but I decided to anchor the sky to just a thin strip of water, darker blue but also partly obscured by the lower edge of the fog bank. I aimed toward a boundary area between the blue sky and the thicker fog, and captured an area of transition where both sky and fog are in play. Believe it or not, there was a fair amount of work to be done in post, including getting the right amounts of contrast and pushing the brightest parts of the clouds just far enough to create a feeling of light, but not so far as to look fake.

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

Foggy Evening Near Rocky Point

August 28, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening fog obscures the view of the Big Sur coastline near Rocky Point.

This photograph was made on my birthday, believe it or not! We had headed down to the Monterey area for dinner, and had a few extra hours in the late afternoon, so we decided to take a quick jaunt down the coast towards the Rocky Point and (almost) Bixby Bridge area. Of course, a little thing like a birthday celebration isn’t going to make me leave my camera gear at home, so this was a fine excuse to do a little photography along the coast highway.

The light was variable and challenging, largely because it was late in the day and the fog bank was moving right up against the coast. While in a few places it pulled back enough to allow a bit of diffused light to land on the coastal bluffs, beaches, and even the water, in most places the fog line was just a bit inland. As we drove south we were mostly in fog, but occasionally as we passed a bit further from the shoreline to follow the contours of a creek drainage or a bay we found a bit of sun. We finally stopped at this high overlook that provides a view back toward Rocky Point, the peninsula at the upper part of the frame, and I made a few exposures.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: coast

Green and Red Leaves

Island, Coastal Bluffs, and Distant Shore

Foggy Evening Near Rocky Point

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