Tag Archives: fog

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

Sea Stacks, Big Sur Coast

Image Leave a comment
Sea Stacks, Big Sur Coast
A rugged landscape of coastal sea stacks along the Big Sur coast

Sea Stacks, Big Sur Coast. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A rugged landscape of coastal sea stacks along the Big Sur coast

This photograph comes from an early November transition season day along the Big Sur coast of California when I took a morning and half of the afternoon to drive down and make some photographs. The conditions here can vary widely on a seasonal and daily weather basis. Many summer days start with thick coastal fog, but it can also be crystal clear and even warm. Pacific storm fronts pass through during the winter, bringing rain, spectacular post front clouds, and then an atmosphere cleared of haze.

On this day the sun was trying to take command, but there was a lot of coastal fog haze in the air, and the fog banks were stubbornly persisting over the coastal hills in places. There was enough surf to throw up some additional moisture into the atmosphere right along the shoreline. Here I photographed across a near seascape filled with rocky bluffs and sea stacks, looking toward a more distant shoreline partially obscured by fog and haze.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature

Coots, Pond, Autumn Sky

Image Leave a comment
Coots, Pond, Autumn Sky
A flock of coots and autumn morning sky reflected in a wetland pond.

Coots, Pond, Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of coots and autumn morning sky reflected in a wetland pond.

Autumn and winter are my favorite seasons, especially but not exclusively for photography. In my part of the world these are the seasons for the most compelling light, the most interesting skies, and transitions of all sorts — the color transition of autumn, the shortening (and subsequent lengthening) of daylight hours, the quicker transitions between rain and sun and fog and wind.  Rather than waiting for those occasional special days, as one often does in the summer, I can just head out and be almost certain of finding something.

This morning was full of surprises. I was up and on the road hours before dawn, expecting to end up in a place full of thick tule fog, where I would photograph a sunrise obscured by this fog and then continue to photograph as it lightened and then cleared. But none of that happened. The weather forecasts were off, and instead it was almost completely clear of fog, opening expansive views to the morning sky. This sky was filled with the early clouds of an incoming Pacific weather front, with only a thin band of clear sky in the distance beyond the edge of the clouds. Shortly after the moment of sunrise, the still-low sun sent its light across the bottom of the cloud deck and the light caught the curving textures of the clouds, here reflected in the water of a pond.

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 and Amazon.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes, Sunrise

Image Leave a comment

Cranes, Sunrise
Cranes fly above sun rising though fog and haze

Cranes, Sunrise. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cranes fly above sun rising though fog and haze

The past few weeks have not been kind to California, with yet another very dry fall leading to some extraordinarily serious late-season wildfires. In particular, the historic and tragic toll of the “Camp Fire” is on our minds. In addition to those in the area directly affected by the fire, many Californians who live elsewhere in the state have friends who lost their homes and worse. And all across the state unhealthy levels of smoke have affected millions of Californians. (As I write this, we are finally getting our first real weather front of the season and the smoke levels are diminishing a bit.)

I have long pondered how to deal with these conditions photographically. Some years ago I realized that managed fires are a good thing for our environment (and even help reduce the likelihood of first like we recently experienced), but it has still been a challenge to find ways to make “beautiful” photographs of such things. I recently made this photograph on a morning when the air was still thick with this smoke, combined with fog, almost completely muting the light of the rising sun.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Coastal Bluffs, Morning Fog

Image Leave a comment

Coastal Bluffs, Morning Fog
Under foggy morning skies, steep coastal bluffs rise above the Pacific Ocean along the Big Sur coast

Coastal Bluffs, Morning Fog. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Under foggy morning skies, steep coastal bluffs rise above the Pacific Ocean along the Big Sur coast

I’m fortunate to live in a (photographically speaking) “target rich environment.” Two hours to my west is the Great Central Valley of California, a couple of hours beyond that and I’m high in the Sierra Nevada, and a bit more driving takes me to the east side of the Sierra and the beginning of basin and range country. I can get to Death Valley in a day’s driving. San Francisco is a train ride away, and a bit north of that begins the heart of coast redwood country. (I can actually get to redwoods by driving only about a half hour from home.) Less than an hour away is the Pacific Ocean, and a somewhat longer drive takes my past Monterey and Carmel and into the remarkable Big Sur coastline.

That’s where I went on this day, getting a somewhat later start than I hoped for but arriving in time to find fog still hanging around among the coastal mountains and bluffs. I know this coastline well enough to photograph in some little-known spots, but this location is very close to something quite iconic. I’ve photographed this location many times, in all sorts of conditions — fog, brilliant sun, winter storms. It can be a very colorful and bright place late on a clear-sky day, but on this morning it had a quieter and more closed-in feeling.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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