Tag Archives: haze

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

Beach Monument, Lost Coast

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Beach Monument, Lost Coast
A monument of driftwood lumber on a Lost Coast beach.

Beach Monument, Lost Coast. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A monument of driftwood lumber on a Lost Coast beach.

On our recent visit to the far Northern California redwood country, we did a bit of exploring in places that were new to us. (While there are no hard and fast rules about this, I often enjoy trips that combine the discovery of new subjects with repeat visits to more familiar places.) One reason was simply that it is useful to head off in a different direction when the thing you thought you might photograph is not in an ideal state. But we also made some specific advance plans concerning locations like the one in this photograph.

Roughly between the Fort Bragg and Eureka areas there is a remarkable section of the Pacific Coast that is nicknamed the “Lost Coast.” Here the main highways (101 and 1) divert inland to avoid some particularly rugged sections. Few roads make it to the coast, and those that do tend to be narrow, twisty, and a bit less traveled. We drove one of those roads on a large loop that took us to and along this section of almost completely deserted coastline.

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

Evening Sea Stacks

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Evening Sea Stacks
Sea stacks and surf on an overcast evening, Crescent City, California.

Evening Sea Stacks. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sea stacks and surf on an overcast evening, Crescent City, California.

The circumstances of this photograph were just a bit unusual, and it is not quite the photograph that I thought I’d be making when I recently visited the coastline at Crescent City. Because the days are so long right now, we decided to go out for an early dinner, planning to head back out into the field to photograph an hour or so before sunset. The plans was not totally solid, but I had this spot in mind as one of the possibilities, as it more or less in Crescent City. We finished dinner and it was still too early for the photography I had in mind, so we did a bit of exploring before we ended up back at this post.

I had photographed these very rocks a couple of years ago, and this time I was imagining something with sunset light, the colorful ocean and sky, and perhaps some dramatic shadows. The conditions had something else in mind. To the north a line of clouds was arriving, likely the result of a weak incoming cold front. When it became apparent that the brilliantly colorful sunset I imagined was not to be (though something else interest did eventually happen) I rethought the mood I wanted to suggest and began to see the appeal in this framing of the scene, focusing on the foreground island with the more distant sea stacks closer to the top of the frame.

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

Mendocino Bay, Morning

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Mendocino Bay, Morning
Waves wash onto the shoreline of Mendocino Bay on a foggy morning.

Mendocino Bay, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Waves wash onto the shoreline of Mendocino Bay on a foggy morning.

Recently I returned to the photographs from this visit to the North Coast of California, on which we spent a few days in Mendocino. This little town presents an interesting dichotomy between the old-school funky, hippiness of that part of the state and the semi-yuppified element that has grown in more recent years. In a sense, you “see it all” in this place.

On this visit we stayed in town, not more than a couple of minutes walk from the bluffs overlooking the bay just south of the peninsula on which the town sits. On this morning we wandered over there in the morning before the morning fog and haze had completely clearer, and I made a series of photographs looking inland along these bluffs to the outlet of the river that drains into the bay.

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

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Creosote and Dunes in Morning Light

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Creosote and Dunes in Morning Light
Shadows and early morning light on creosote plants and sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Creosote and Dunes in Morning Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Shadows and early morning light on creosote plants and sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Yes, I know. I keep suggesting that I’m done with the new photographs from this year’s early-April visit to Death Valley. And then I decide to look at them again before moving on. And I find another that I want to work up. And then another. I really do think I may be done with them. For now. Maybe. But maybe not…

These creosote plants are among the Death Valley plants that seem to thrive, or at least survive, in the least likely places. Here they grow on the sand dunes and are among the largest plants you’ll find here. As they battle this harsh environment of heat, intense light, strong winds, and blowing sand they not only manage to live here but they even affect this landscape. Clumps of creosote like this one obstruct the blowing sand enough to begin a process of building small mounds at their base, and this seems to allow additional shoots of the plant to fill in until some examples are quite large.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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