Tag Archives: golden

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

Golden Gate Bridge Tower, Transamerica Building, San Francisco Skyline

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Golden Gate Bridge Tower, Transamerica Building, San Francisco Skyline
Golden Gate Bridge Tower, Transamerica Building, San Francisco Skyline

Golden Gate Bridge Tower, Transamerica Building, San Francisco Skyline. San Francisco, California. December 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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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keywords: california, usa, travel, scenic, san francisco, bay, area, golden, gate, national, recreation, area, park, stock, transamerica, pyramid, tower, skyline, downtown, urban, hill, mountain, haze, fog, cloud, atmospheric, recession, silhouette, cable, bridge, north, bay, landscape, marin, county, headlands, shoreline, shore, morning, light

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fetid Adder’s Tongue

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Fetid Adder's Tongue
Fetid Adder's Tongue

Fetid Adder’s Tongue. Muir Woods National Monument, California. December 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fetid Adder’s Tongue flower at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I never would have guessed a week or two ago that there would be a post at my blog entitled “Fetid Adder’s Tongue” before the end of the year. Regardless of the photographic quality of the post, I could not pass up the opportunity for a post with this title!

I was walking along the main trail to Cathedral Grove at Muir Woods when I spotted a very excited looking couple bending down and looking very intently at what appeared to be a patch of empty ground with a bit of moss. As I got closer they pointed out this flower – I never would have spotted it otherwise, and I’m fairly observant about such things. It is small – perhaps two or three inches tall – and much harder to see that it seems in my photograph, where the blurred background lets it stand out a bit. From what they told me it is one of the first flowers to emerge after the rainy season begins. After finding this one we looked around a bit and found quite a few more in the nearby area.

I was back at Muir Woods a few days later and looked for this plant again, but the flowers had almost completely shriveled away. Apparently this is not a long-lived flower! I did find several other examples nearby, including a few plants that were just coming up from under the ground.

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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keywords: california, usa, travel, scenic, san francisco, bay, area, golden, gate, national, recreation, area, park, stock, Fetid Adder’s Tongues, Slink Pods, Scoliopus bigelovii, flower, wildflower, plant, nature, muir, woods, monument, marin, county, winter, fall, season, foliage,

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

Sutro Tower and Golden Gate Bridge South Tower, Morning

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Sutro Tower and Golden Gate Bridge South Tower, Morning
Sutro Tower and Golden Gate Bridge South Tower, Morning

Sutro Tower and Golden Gate Bridge South Tower, Morning. San Francisco, California. December 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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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Point Bonita Lighthouse, Marin Headlands

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Point Bonita Lighthouse, Marin Headlands
Point Bonita Lighthouse, Marin Headlands

Point Bonita Lighthouse, Marin Headlands. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California. December 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all right reserved.

Black and white photograph of the Point Bonita Lighthouse above the Pacific Ocean surf of the Marin Headlands with the south side of the Golden Gate beyond.

I earlier posted a photograph of the inland side of Point Bonita – this one is from the Pacific Coast side, high on bluffs just north of the Point Bonita Lighthouse and looking south back across the outer entrance to the San Francisco Bay. This is a very rugged bit of coastline here between the Bay and Rodeo Beach and Fort Cronkhite just to the north, where there is a wide beach at the end of a valley.

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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