Tag Archives: face

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

At the Shoreline

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At the Shoreline
A peninsula of fractured and worn rocks next to the tidal zone.

At the Shoreline. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A peninsula of fractured and worn rocks next to the tidal zone.

As I wrote in another recent post, what I thought would be a quick visit to this cove turned into a rather longer one. As I started my visit I wasn’t sure that I would photograph here, but once I started looking around I found plenty of interesting subjects. After well over an hour I finally tore myself away to go photograph something else!

The location encompasses a shallow cove lined with rocks, some of which are flat and gradually head under the water, and others that are part of a small peninsula blocking the area from the open ocean. The intertidal zone is full of fascinating things — living creatures, pebbles left behind by the surf, and a pavement of upended strata. In this photograph I backed off some distance and put a long lens on the camera so that I could include the foreground boulders along with a small portion of the flat area and the rocky wall of the peninsula beyond.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon

Evening Dunes

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Evening Dunes
Soft early-evening light on san dunes as the last sun strike distant desert mountains.

Evening Dunes. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Soft early-evening light on sand dunes as the last sun strikes distant desert mountains.

Photographers (and other creatives) understand that their perspective on their own work will always differ from those of others. It cannot be any other way. Only the photographer — that’s me! — knows the circumstances and experiences of making the image. No one else can ever see the photograph the way I do or know all of the associations it evokes. Perhaps this is a reason that we tell stories about photographs. We hope to fill in some of what the photograph alone cannot tell.

So, some backstory: This was the first time I visited at this semi-remote desert location. I planned to photograph in the evening, camp nearby that night, and photograph again in the morning. My camp was a bit more than a half hour walk from the location, and this was the very last photograph I made that evening. Astute observers (and fellow photographers) may wonder: “Why did you stop when that light was still on the mountains?” Well… I was there to photograph the dunes. It was extremely windy and the low light was becoming more of a problem. The light on the mountains was beautiful, but there wasn’t a photograph there. And I had a long walk back to my camp, alone and across terrain that I had not visited before.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

Rock Face, Pacific Coast Shoreline

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Rock Face, Pacific Coast Shoreline
Fractured layers of rock ascending above the edge of the ocean, Point Lobos.

Rock Face, Pacific Coast Shoreline. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Fractured layers of rock ascending above the edge of the ocean, Point Lobos.

This little peninsula at Point Lobos State Reserve couldn’t be more than a couple of hundred feet long, if that. I first visited it when I was a pre-teen and my family came here to explore tide pools. Later I took a camera and photographed here starting in my teenage years and continuing from time to time since then. By now you would think that I’d know every single rock, crevice, and layer. Yet when I go back I still see things I had missed before.

These rocks are on the inland side of the low peninsula that extends a short distance toward the entrance to a small cove. Even at high tide the rocks remain above water, though in heavy winter surf the waves can crash over this formation. It is a striking bit of rock, cut through by curving strata that briefly rise to the surface and then submerge again as they head inland. The material is what I presume to be a conglomerate, so there are many contrasting smaller embedded rocks. It is cut by fissures and cracks along the strata, and there is a seeming infinity of color and texture variations.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Morning Sun, Panamint Mountains

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Morning Sun, Panamint Mountains
Morning sun on the eastern face of the Panamint Mountains.

Morning Sun, Panamint Mountains. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning sun on the eastern face of the Panamint Mountains.

The light on this morning was interesting, a bit softer than expected due to thin clouds to the east that muted the colors and contrast a bit, plus a bit of the ubiquitous Death Valley haze. I made the photograph back in late January, so it isn’t a big surprise to see a dusting of snow on the higher peaks along the ridge of the Panamint Mountains.

The Panamint Mountains stand along the western side of Death Valley and are a remarkable range in many ways — their scale, the human history they contain, and their relative inaccessibility. While humans have, no doubt, appeared from time to time in this slice of landscape, it is a forbidding place and not one traversed easily. From Valley floor to the highest peaks is over 11,000′ feet, and the terrain between the two is immense and rugged.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.