Tag Archives: fog

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

Big Sur Coast, Evening Haze

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Big Sur Coast, Evening Haze
Evening winter haze and mist at sunset along the rugged Big Sur coastline

Big Sur Coast, Evening Haze. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening winter haze and mist at sunset along the rugged Big Sur coastline

This is perhaps a fairly “typical” winter view of this coastline — if such a landscape can ever by described using that term. We were on the return leg of a visit to the Los Angles Basin, and we decided to take the long route back, following US 1 up the Big Sur coast. (There is an inverse relationship between speed and rewards when traveling between northern and southern California. Racing up and down I-5 in the Central Valley has its place, but you miss a lot. US 101 is slower but more interesting, and US 1 is a lot slower and a lot more interesting!)

By the time we got out of the LA Basin — which took three hours even on a post-holiday morning — it was clear that the winter sunset would occur when we were somewhere north of Ragged Point and south of the town of Big Sur. We did not know precisely where, but along this coast it is usually possible, when you realize that the day is ending, to find a good spot fairly quickly. I picked this one perhaps 10-15 minutes before sunset, mainly by intuition as we came around a headland and saw the foreground bay, the layered headlands, and the long view to the north. I quickly got out and set up to photograph in the warm, sunset light… and then watched it “gray out” as the sun dropped behind low haze sitting on the horizon!

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.

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

Morning, Fog, Surf

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Morning, Fog, Surf, Big Sur
“Morning, Fog, Surf” — Bright morning light illuminates fog along the Big Sur coast as storm wave run up against the cliffs

The fog in this photograph doesn’t come from the usual source. Typically, along this section of California’s Big Sur coastline, fog rolls in from the ocean in big, fluffy, low-level clouds. That fog is a dark, damp, gray thing, and — with the exception of the moments while it is clearing — it generally does not let in much light. The “fog” in this photograph, which might more accurately be called mist or spray, comes from gigantic waves from a winter storm breaking along the coast in windy conditions. The waves produced this mist on this day of surf up to 40 feet high.

The photograph could also serve as an example of looking away from the most obvious thing. The location is at or just before a very popular and iconic stopping place along the Coast Highway in the Big Sur region. In fact, many people making a quick trip down from the north choose this spot as their turn-around point. I stopped a bit before the throng and pointed my lens in a different direction, down toward a familiar beach lying at the base of huge shoreline cliffs. The beach isn’t visible — the giant waves were so strong that they ran all the way up to the base of the cliff. I decided on a high key interpretation of this scene in order to reveal the glowing backlight slanting across the cliff from above.

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

Autumn Foliage, Wetlands

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Autumn Foliage, Wetlands
Autumn foliage and a reflecting pond under late Autumn skies

Autumn Foliage, Wetlands. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn foliage and a reflecting pond under late Autumn skies

Fall color varies a great deal from location to location. My East Coast friends remind  me that I haven’t seen anything quite like the forest-wide flood of color that happens there every fall — and they are probably right. (I still need to go to New England and photograph fall color. Too many subjects, too little time! ;-) On the other hand, we West Coast dwellers have a few special opportunities of our own, at least if we have learned where to look for them. One of these opportunities comes from the extraordinarily long color season.

I usually see my first indications of “fall” color in the Sierra as early as late-August. The first hints are subtle, but by halfway into September they are becoming pretty obvious, with the first aspens changing colors, and by early October the show in the Eastern Sierra is quite amazing. Because of the elevation range and north/south extent of the Sierra, the color lasts a long time — higher and more northerly color may come first, while lower elevation color may still be appearing over a month later. Once the aspens are done, the cottonwoods and other lower-elevation trees come into form. At the western Sierra foothill elevations the color can peak close to the beginning of November, and out in the Great Valley and closer to the coast there can still be excellent color in December! That’s when I photographed this group of trees, reflected in a pond and underneath autumn clouds… and at the peak of their seasonal color transformation.

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.

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

Headlands And Mist

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Headlands And Mist
Strong late-autumn surf raises clouds of mist above rocky headlands along the Big Sur coast.

Headlands and Mist. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Strong late-autumn surf raises clouds of mist above rocky headlands along the Big Sur coast.

Today I continue with photographs from my visit to the upper Big Sur coastline in the middle of December, on a day when distant Gulf of Alaska weather fronts were sending giant surf crashing against the beaches, sea stacks, and cliffs. This is perhaps my favorite set of conditions for California coastal photography — a clear, post-storm day with giant surf that raises a layer of mist along the shoreline. When I see reports of such conditions I try my best to get over there quickly!

On the drive down, even as I passed Monterey Bay I could see the effects on the water. Waves in the bay didn’t seem unusually large, but off in the distance I could see the land at the northwest end of the Monterey Peninsula where gigantic white breakers created a line against the horizon. Once I got south of Carmel and right next to the coast the picture was even clearer, and I soon stopped on a bluff to get “up close and personal” (but from a safe spot) with the show. I made this photograph a bit further south in a spot that I’ve photographed many times. Here there is a view across several rocky ribs at the water’s edge and on to a taller hill beyond — and I know this as a spot with great potential for surf and light and for raising clouds of spray and mist.

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

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

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