Tag Archives: haze

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

Sea Stacks and Coastal Bluffs, Northern California

Leave a comment
Sea Stacks and Coastal Bluffs, Northern California - Haze obscures sea stacks and bluffs along the rugged Pacific Ocean coastline of Northern California
Haze obscures sea stacks and bluffs along the rugged Pacific Ocean coastline of Northern California

Sea Stacks and Coastal Bluffs, Northern California. Mendocino Coast, California. October 30, 2011. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Haze obscures sea stacks and bluffs along the rugged Pacific Ocean coastline of Northern California.

I made this photograph almost a year ago, from just about the same location as a more recent photograph of this scene that I posted a month or so ago. The location is along the Mendocino County coastline of northern California, a rugged and beautiful section of the state. Here the coast highway travels very close to the water along high bluffs that overlook the Pacific, and this particular cove holds this two-peaked island or sea stack and is backed by receding coastal bluffs that extend out into the water. In the far distance the shoreline to the south curves gently back towards the west, creating a large and very shallow bay.

The personality of this land and seascape changes constantly. On a (rare) completely clear day, the view to the farther shoreline might be easier to make out, but on the many foggy days the foreground scene could well be completely obscured. On this morning, most of the fog had cleared back from the coast, leaving a softly hazy atmosphere that amplified the effects of distance, and the surf was creating low clouds of spray along the coastline.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Steelhead Lake, Shoreline

Leave a comment
Steelhead Lake, Shoreline - The curving shoreline of Steelhead Lake, photographed in early evening light.
The curving shoreline of Steelhead Lake, photographed in early evening light.

Steelhead Lake, Shoreline. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. September 15, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The curving shoreline of Steelhead Lake, photographed in early evening light.

This is a fairly simple shot, and I think it represents a sort of scene that many Sierra Nevada back-country travelers know well. Steelhead Lake sits high on a bench up in the McGee Creek drainage, with a very tall ridge running to the east (and blocking early morning light) and a deep canyon to the west and northwest, with views toward the Sierra crest beyond. Unusual for an east-side location, there is much better light in the evening than in the morning. (More typically, east-side high country areas are open to the east and the morning light, and the evening light is blocked by the Sierra crest.) Most of the shoreline of the lake is forested, with the exception of a section at the upper end that is covered by the base of a talus field spilling down from the higher ridges.

We camped on what almost amounted to a peninsula, at least when viewed from the direction from which the trail arrives at the lake. Our spot on the peninsula was high enough to command a view of most of the moderate sized lake, and especially back across this little cover below our position. Late in the day as the setting sun approached the crest of the Sierra out of the frame to the left, low angle light slanted across the valley below and onto the low ridge along the edge of the lake, illuminating the atmospheric haze and back-lighting the trees along the shoreline.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Tree, Morning Light

Leave a comment
Aspen Tree, Morning Light - An aspen tree with morning backlight, photographed high above Bishop Creek Canyon
An aspen tree with morning backlight, photographed high above Bishop Creek Canyon

Aspen Tree, Morning Light. Bishop Canyon, California. October 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An aspen tree with morning backlight, photographed high above Bishop Creek Canyon

I’m continuing to indulge in my fascination with back-lit subjects today. This solitary aspen tree was located in an odd, out-of-the-way spot in the North Lake area, high in the Bishop Creek drainage. I had finished shooting at the lake and in the nearby aspen groves when I got the idea of walking the approach road a bit and finding a spot with a view to the canyon far below and to its shadowed walls on the far side of the canyon. For the sort of shot I had in mind, almost any small aspen tree would do as long as it was in the right place with the right background, and you would not think of this one as being anything special if you saw it – it is small, located on a dry and rocky section of hillside, and among a few other scattered small trees. However, it turned out to have what I wanted – a clear shot of the shadowed far hillside for background, separation from other trees, a few remaining leaves, and that backlight.

Photographing a location like North Lake can be an interesting experience. It holds at least a couple of the iconic Sierra autumn scenes with which many are familiar. (You can often find workshop participants lined up along a particular beautiful spot along the shoreline.) As with so many such subjects, most start with those impressive and familiar views – and they are worthy of photographs. But it is equally true that return visits to such a place, especially when they lead to more thorough observation, turn up a lot of interesting subjects that are not those familiar ones that first attracted our attention and lead to a much more complete knowledge of the place.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Trees, Shoreline of North Lake

2 Comments
Aspen Trees, Shoreline of North Lake - Autumn aspen trees line the shoreline of North Lake in morning light.
Autumn aspen trees line the shoreline of North Lake in morning light.

Aspen Trees, Shoreline of North Lake. North Lake, Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn aspen trees line the shoreline of North Lake in morning light.

I had exactly one day to photograph eastern Sierra aspen color this week – and that may be my only shot at it this fall, with the possible exception of something closer to the middle of the month. I was in the Bishop Creek area for this single day, starting very early in the morning in the area generally around North Lake and then shooting along South Lake road into the early evening. This photograph was made at North Lake. Since I’ve photographed there many times, I rarely head straight for the best known spots, but instead poke around a bit and try to find somewhat different angles on things and/or photograph small details instead of the grand scene. This photograph is looking back across the lake toward the larger Bishop Creek Canyon in the distance, and light beams slant down across the low ridge near the end of the lake.

A quick report for those wondering how the color is doing and when to go. The colors are doing very well. If you are hoping to shoot some of the higher elevations on the east side of the Sierra, I recommend not waiting very long this year. The North, South, and Sabrina Lakes areas of Bishop Creek were in spectacular form when I was there around the middle of the week. I was not expecting much, since some of the reports I had read were less than encouraging. But in many places the colors were as good or almost as good as I have ever seen them, and the colorful trees were extending down to lower elevations that I would expect for this very early October date. For example, the colors at Cardinal Meadow were stunning. Nothing was really yet past its prime, but the higher areas are likely to reach that stage very soon, I would think.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.