Tag Archives: haze

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Pier, San Francisco Waterfront, Morning

July 13, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An old pier along the San Francisco Bay waterfront, morning light.

When I take the train to San Francisco early on summer mornings, it is frequently the case that the sun is out as I walk along the Embarcadero waterfront, and the light greats a bright glowing atmosphere as the haze and light fog above the bay are backlit. It can be almost too bright to look at. Often the buildings of the east bay and the cranes of the Port of Oakland are faintly visible on the horizon, as they are in this photograph. There is actually a range of east bay mountains above these structures, but they are not quite visible through the glowing atmosphere in this photograph.

The Embarcadero, the road that runs along the waterfront of the bay on the east side of The City, is lined with many old piers. They range from those that have been restored and turned into tourist areas (think of Pier 39 with its souvenir shops), others that house businesses and even a museum or two, some that are primarily parking areas, and a few others that have been left to rot in the sun. In some ways, those in the latter group are the most interesting to photograph, though there are fewer of them now that the value of this waterfront real estate has once again been recognized. Originally, this was a working port with passenger and freight ships. Now most of that business has gone across the bay to Oakland. However, today the bay front properties are probably more valuable for other purposes anyway.

I have photographed this particular pier before, but this time I liked the very bright sky, barely visible structures across the bay, and the morning light that is just hitting the left side of the buildings on the pier.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

‘Rim of the World’ Overlook, Morning

May 26, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The view toward Yosemite and the High Sierra from the ‘Rim of the World’ overlook above the Tuolumne River canyon along highway 120.

‘Rim of the World’ is the name given to a scenic overlook above the deep valley of the Tuolumne River along route 120, the northern route into Yosemite National Park. It is something of an odd place. It is a fairly pedestrian traffic pullout, though it overlooks the immense and impressively deep canyon of the Tuolumne. But the view is at least partially obstructed by things like power lines. However, it is a view that on clear days can extend great distances to very high Sierra peaks.

I most often simply blow past the spot on my way to or from the park. However, on this morning as I passed I thought the low morning light looked interesting so I found a spot to turn around and drove back. There was a bit of high cloudiness, and the light was coming across the folds of these foreground hills from the right, lighting up various bits of ridge and trees and illuminating the morning haze enough to amplify the effect of distance. If I’m not mistaken, the further ridge with its faintly seen snow fields is in the area of Mount Hoffman.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Big Sur Coastline Near Soberanes Creek, Spring

May 19, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A sunny spring morning along the Big Sur Coast at Soberanes Creek, with fog above the coastal mountains.

This is a spot that is probably familiar to many who have driven down this section of the Big Sur coastline south of Monterey and Carmel, California. To the right, and out of the photograph, is Soberanes Canyon which ascends steeply toward the ridges above Pacific Ocean. A creek flows down the canyon, underneath the coast highway, and then into the ocean.

The foreground bluff looks inviting with its green color and spring flowers. However, I picked up one of the worst cases of poison oak I’ve had on one occasion when I walked across this meadow to photograph the sea stacks and coastline at dusk!

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

Sea Stacks, Big Sur Coastline

May 14, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Sea stacks line the rugged California Big Sur coastline below the Pacific Coast Highway.

I had some free time on Friday morning, so I decided to head over to the coast below Monterey. I had some discussions with someone earlier this week about photographs featuring coastal fog and hills, and I think that may be what planted the idea in my mind, though it turned out that conditions were not quite ideal for that particular sort of thing. However, it was a beautiful spring morning along the Big Sur coast, with the bright sun somewhat modulated by some atmospheric haze and a bit of fog here and there along ridge tops.

For those who may not have heard, driving this section of the Coast Highway is a bit tricky right now due to washouts and closures. I had to wait for a pilot vehicle to lead scores of us through one large section, and in another spot the road was reduced to a single lane by a large landslide. I understand that further south the road is actually closed completely, necessitating an inland detour.

The unusual traffic situation did create one advantage for me, however. Usually there is enough traffic on this famous route that driving along at very slow speeds annoys other drivers – so I sometimes have to keep going right past places I might otherwise want to stop and investigate. However, yesterday I quickly figured out that with 20-30 minutes between waves of traffic as the road opened and closed, all I had to do was pull over after passing one of the blockages, wait for the other cars to pass, and then drive in a more leisurely way with plenty of opportunities to stop.

So as I drove past this area that I had not really looked at closely in the past – it is between a couple of other spots that I know well – I was able to drive slowly, pull over to look more carefully, backtrack, and generally get to see it more than in the past. I first pulled off near this spot simply to turn around to go back and check a spot I had just passed. As I did so I noticed a painter packing up his gear. I did my “turn around,” looked at the spot I had passed, decided it wasn’t promising after all… and came right back to the spot where I had seen the painter. A short trail led down to the edge of the bluff and provided this view along the coast to the south.

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.