Tag Archives: haze

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

Rocky Coastline and Haze

June 26, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Low fog and spray from surf mute the morning view of coastal rocks and bluffs along the rugged California coastline

This photograph was made on a beautiful early spring morning along the Pacific Coast Highway in the upper section of the Big Sur area, just below Carmel. On many days when the weather is nice elsewhere in California, fog covers the coastline – but on this morning the fog was barely there and the morning sun came across the summit of the coastal mountains to shine down into the very thin coastal mist. To my surprise, winter having ended so recently, I found myself shooting in shirtsleeves!

This is a particular spot that I return to quite often since I live close enough to this area to visit frequently. A few years ago I made some photographs of a fisherman sitting on a rock above astonishingly wild surf. I recalled the general area where I made the shot, but I hadn’t made an effort to remember the exact location, so I was surprised when I looked at this scene more closely and realized that this is the exact spot from which I shot, give or a take a few feet of walking along the coastal bluffs.

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

San Francisco Skyline, Bridge Cables

June 13, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Golden Gate Bridge Cables silhouetted against hazy morning light on San Francisco Bay and city skyline

Back in March I took a day to go up into Marin County to do some early spring photography, thinking about the possibility of shooting in the redwood forest at Muir Woods – which was, in fact, where I ended up. I left well before dawn, and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge right about the time the sun was coming up. Being a big fan of shooting in atmospheric haze of all sorts, the very thin layer of fog spreading across the entrance to the bay was enough to make me pull over and make a few photographs of the bay and the city.

This was an unusual sort of fog. We are more familiar with the banks of thick fog coming in off of the Pacific and flowing in through the Golden Gate, covering the bridge and rising over the shoulders or even the summits of the hills, often with a fairly sharp boundary between fog and clear air. This fog, however, was thin and more widespread and did not form the familiar “bank.” It was closer to translucent than to opaque, and the outline of the downtown San Francisco skyline was visible, though all details were muted. The identity of the foreground structure probably needs no explanation!

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

Granite and Trees, Morning

May 13, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Morning light on granite slabs in the Yosemite high country.

These are the light, the rocks, the trees that bring me back to the Yosemite high country of the Sierra Nevada every year when Tioga Pass opens and which keep me coming back until the high country closes again in the fall. Tioga Pass opened for the season this past weekend, and that – plus the chance to see a show and visit with some friends in the Valley – was excuse for a quick visit. I try to go over the pass each season on the day it opens or shortly afterwards. For me, crossing that pass and starting down the road into Lee Vining Canyon marks the start of “summer,” even though the calendar still says it is spring.

Since the high country camp grounds are not open yet and the Forest Service camps east of the pass are also still closed, I ended up getting a last-minute camp site in Yosemite Valley. (This also provided the opportunities to attend the reception for John Sexton’s and Anne Larsen’s show at the Ansel Adams Gallery, to hear John’s wonderful talk about Ansel Adams that evening, and to get one last crack at photographing this year’s dogwood bloom.) On the first day I did little more than make an obligatory drive up toward the pass and see the familiar country. This was the second dry winter in a row in California, and there is very little snow for such an early date in the season. Perhaps because of this, there were far fewer people up there than on other recent opening days. On the second day I got up well before dawn and left my Yosemite Valley camp in darkness, driving up Tioga Pass road early enough to photograph in the May Lake (turnoff), Olmsted Point, and Tenaya Lake areas in early light. Here I found what I was looking for – sparse trees in the back-light from early morning sun, ridges of exfoliating granite, and a bit of hazy morning atmosphere. I suppose it might just be my first high-country photograph of the new season.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Coastal Valley, Morning Light

May 2, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early morning light streams across ridges and illuminates mist filling a coastal valley along the Big Sur coastline of California

This might be described as “yet another in a series” of photographs made along the Pacific Coast Highway south of Monterey, in which I look for canyons filled with misty early morning light, aim my camera up into the canyon, and see what I can come up with. The elements are: fog that it thin enough to pass light, early morning back-light spilling over the tops of coastal ridges, canyons and valleys with many overlapping ridges, lush and green coastal vegetation. The variations are endless. The challenges are finding canyons with just the right combinations of these elements and, of course, shooting straight into the light, a favorite technique of mine.

This little valley is one that you would most likely pass by and not even see, since it is small and in a section of the coast where you attention is likely to be drawn the other way and toward the Pacific ocean. I’ve seen this spot a few times as I have driven past, but I had assumed that it might not be photograph-able given some power lines and the scarcity of places to pull over and park. This time I looked a bit closer and thought I saw a way to shoot from alongside the highway and perhaps avoid the wires and I did see a small pull-out nearby, so I turned around at the next opportunity, came back, and spent a bit of time working this scene.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: haze

Rocky Coastline and Haze

San Francisco Skyline, Bridge Cables

Granite and Trees, Morning

Coastal Valley, Morning Light

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