Tag Archives: highway

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Tumbleweed, California Wildflowers

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Tumbleweed, California Wildflowers
A tumbleweed rests in the middle of a field of California spring wildflowers.

Tumbleweed, California Wildflowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tumbleweed rests in the middle of a field of California spring wildflowers.

Let’s say you live in California or close enough to get here quickly. Let’s say you like wildflowers. Let’s say you have a bit of flexibility in your schedule. Go now! In many areas of the state — mostly the oak/grassland country of Central and the coastal and inland mountain ranges and foothills, along with many desert areas — the wildflower season is reaching its quite spectacular peak.You don’t need to know the supposed Best Wildflower Spot In California… because this is more or less a statewide phenomenon, and because all you really need to do is point yourself toward one of these kinds of places, and because you’ll actually have as much fun discovering your own wildflower spot as you would have joining the hordes at the over-crowded places in the news. (Recently we saw absolutely stunning wildflowers — the kind that make you gasp out loud — as we drove past them on main highway routes through hills and desert.)

We ran into this particular display along one of those highways. I had driven past it a bit more than a week ago without seeing anything all that out of the ordinary… but a week later it was definitely at its peak. (If you were to go to this specific spot now you would likely find that it had passed its peak.) The tumbleweed plant was a gift from the photography gods and goddesses, as the scene really required something to interrupt the nearly continuous carpet of flowers.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Clouds and Light, Big Sur Coast

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Winter Clouds and Light, Big Sur Coast
Cloudy, hazy atmosphere with dissipating fog and light ahead of an incoming Pacific storm along the Big Sur coast

Winter Clouds and Light, Big Sur Coast. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cloudy, hazy atmosphere with dissipating fog and light ahead of an incoming Pacific storm along the Big Sur coast.

Every time I visit the Big Sur coastline, to be honest, I think that I’m going to discover that there isn’t much new to see. After all, I’ve been visiting for literally decades, since I was a child and my parents took us there on family trips. Yet every single time I find something I haven’t seen before — a new overlook, a different condition of atmosphere and light, a side road I hadn’t noticed, a cliff-side home where I had not see one, some new color in the water.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve stopped and photographed in this spot or close to it before, but this light was different from anything I recall. It was an unusual combination of conditions. In the far distance the clouds of an incoming weather system darkened the southern sky. (Typically, it remains light in that direction longer as fronts approach.) There was a bit of fog under an inversion layer… which I wouldn’t usually expect to see as an arriving front increases the onshore winds. Despite the darker clouds, a bit closer to me there was filtered sunlight reflecting off the water. And the entire scene was softened by a slightly opaque atmosphere.

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 and Amazon.

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

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

Winter Sky, Big Sur Coast

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Winter Sky, Big Sur Coast
Winter storm clouds, fog, and light along the Big Sur Coast of California

Winter Sky, Big Sur Coast. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter storm clouds, fog, and light along the Big Sur Coast of California.

The right kind of summer day along the Big Sur coast of Central California can be beautiful in every way. Imagine a morning with a bit of fog, mid-morning clearing, then brilliant sunshine and comfortably warm (sometimes even hot) temperatures, with a fog bank appearing offshore close to sunset. The ocean would likely be calm and — this is critical — you would probably stop along the way more than once, for coffee, for lunch, and perhaps for dinner.

As lovely as that sounds, it is my least favorite season along this coast. I prefer the changing and sometimes moody conditions of winter. The surf may rise to 30 feet or higher, storms may threaten to (or actually) close the main road, winds sweep across the tall headlands, whales pass close to the shore, and clearing weather may bring towering clouds. I made this photograph on the first day of March, when another Pacific weather front was just arriving, using a wide angle lens to include the sky above a bit of the headlands landscape.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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

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

Storm Approaches

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Storm Approaches
Approaching storm, sunlight on water, clearing fog along the Big Sur coast

Storm Approaches. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Approaching storm, sunlight on water, clearing fog along the Big Sur coast.

While summer is the most popular time for tourists to visit California’s spectacular Big Sur coastline, I’d rather go there in the winter — which is just what I did today. This is the season of the most interesting and dynamic conditions — storms approaching and departing, big surf, clouds and mist, and the low sun reflecting on the water.

To be honest, I initially thought that I might get ahead of the next Pacific weather front, which was scheduled to arrive in the evening. The weather forecast was calling for partly sunny morning conditions, and I planned this little trip with that in mind. But as I headed south from the Carmel area it was obvious that there were plenty of clouds to the south and offshore. Here and there the clouds thinned enough to bring a bit of directional light or reflect off the surface of the Pacific, but overall the sky leaned in the “ominous” direction. I stopped briefly at this familiar spot to photograph this cliff descending steeply into the water, with a few thinning fog clouds dissipating along the ridge of the mountains extending to teh south.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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