Tag Archives: haze

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

Evening Sea Stacks

Image 2 Comments
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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

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

Mendocino Bay, Morning

Image Leave a comment
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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

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

Creosote and Dunes in Morning Light

Image 2 Comments
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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

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

Morning Haze, Dunes and Mountains

Image Leave a comment
Morning Haze, Dunes and Mountains
A long desert vista, from creoste growing in the dunes to distant mountains shrouded byh morning haze.

Morning Haze, Dunes and Mountains. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A long desert vista, from creoste growing in the dunes to distant mountains shrouded byh morning haze.

There are still a few more photographs in the series from this year’s foray to Death Valley National Park, though I suspect that they will wind down soon as I move to other subjects. It is hard to believe that I was there only a bit more than a month ago — it seems like much longer. When I was there around the beginning of April it was still only moderately (by DEVA standards!) warm, with temperatures only touching the low nineties. I’m sure it is hotter now, and it will remain so until late in the year. That’s my way of saying that I won’t be headed back there until many months from now!

This photograph comes from my one morning foray into the well-known dunes not far from Stovepipe Wells. As I have previously mentioned, I often head to somewhat less “busy” areas of these dunes — partly to avoid running into other visitors, but also to find views that are not the familiar, iconic ones. This view looks across a long view from the close creosote to the distant haze-obscured desert mountains that rim the 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, 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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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