Tag Archives: fog

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Golden Gate Bridge Tower, Transamerica Building, San Francisco Skyline

December 29, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

The Transamerica Pyramid above the downtown San Francisco skyline and centered in the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge on a hazy winter morning.

This is, again, from the iconic location high in the Marin Headlands where the Transamerica Pyramid lines up precisely in the center of the upper portion of the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. While this is certainly not an original view of San Francisco skyline, the effect of the thin winter fog is perhaps a bit different from what is usually seen from here. (This fog is related to the tule fog that forms on very cold mornings in the valleys of California. On this morning it was very thick further inland in the Central Valley and delta and some of that moisture was probably responsible for the conditions seen here over San Francisco.)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Sutro Tower and Golden Gate Bridge South Tower, Morning

December 27, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning traffic crosses the Golden Gate Bridge approaching the south tower with haze-shrouded San Francisco hills and Sutro Tower beyond.

I’ve played around with photographs of the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge from this iconic location above the north end of the Bridge before, including some night photography, but I’ve never quite been happy with the composition. On this morning I got lucky with the thin fog muting the colors and creating atmospheric recession into the distant hills and the warm morning light on the upper surface of the bridge. In addition I tried a different composition – instead of trying to fit the whole bridge into the frame I centered the photo on the curve of the distant ridge and then selected a focal length that included a bit of water, a bit of the area to the right of the bridge, and a good portion of the span with just enough morning traffic. The distant structure is Sutro Tower, the site of a number of San Francisco radio and television broadcast antennas.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Morning Winter Haze, San Francisco Bay

December 23, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thin winter low fog and haze over Alcatraz, Yerba Buena, and Treasure Islands and the Bay Bridge, San Francisco Bay, California.

Depending upon time of day, time of year, and the luck of the weather, the view of the Golden Gate and San Francisco Bay can vary from crystal clear with seemingly-saturated colors to completely socked in by fogs and clouds. On winter mornings (and on the right day during other times of the year) a general haze and fog that is not the more familiar coastal fog can lie over the Bay. It reduces the intensity of the colors and the contrast of the scene and if you watch long enough various landmarks gradually come into view and then may drift out of view again.

On this December morning these were exactly the conditions. Central Valley tule fog was spilling its moist and hazy air though the delta and creating this bluish haze over the Bay. I made this and a series of related photographs from the Marin Headlands above the Golden Gate.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Winter Seascape – Near Waddell Beach

December 22, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

A mininalist evening seascape photographed from high bluffs above the Pacific Ocean near Waddell Beach, California.

After photographing beautiful sunset clouds at Waddell Beach I packed up and started south on my drive back home. From Waddell the road rises to pass along the edge of a high bluff with an open view to the west and over the Pacific. I often stop here to photograph shorebirds as they pass right along the edge of the cliff. Although I didn’t have a plan to stop on this evening, I almost intuitively pulled off the road at the first stop and saw this very quiet and still image of the post-sunset Pacific Ocean minimalist seascape – the large swell was coming slowly straight towards the shoreline and everything from the water to the clouds had taken on blue tones in the subdued evening light.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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