Tag Archives: island

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

Big Sur Coast Near Bixby Creek, Winter

January 17, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Light winter rain falls on the rugged Big Sur coastline near Bixby Creek.

This is one more – and perhaps the final – photograph from New Years Day 2011 along the Big Sur coast line. While this is perhaps not your chamber of commerce picture perfect day, it is my kind of Big Sur day. As I made the photograph the wind was absolutely howling – so strong that I couldn’t really use my tripod, so I instead hand held the camera and braced it and myself against a very large boulder. To make things even more “fun,” it was trying very hard to rain!

The location is precisely at the spot where many of the iconic photographs of Bixby Bridge are made, at the north end of the bridge. However, on this day I thought that the subdued tones of the winter ocean and cliffs were more interesting, so I framed my photographs to avoid including the bridge.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Evening Clouds and Rocks, Point Lobos

January 11, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Evening clouds over the Pacific Ocean and offshore rocks at Point Lobos State Reserve.

It always strikes me as odd that at the most beautiful time of day at Point Lobos, almost all of the park visitors have left. In the evening as the sun goes down over the Pacific and the fog may or may not roll in, there are often only a handful of people left in the park, a good number of them photographers. On this Sunday evening it may have been that some were discouraged by the low clouds that had come in earlier in the afternoon, but sometimes these clouds dissipate or are lit up from behind at sunset – at that is precisely what happened on this evening. The low clouds began to thin and as they did so beams of light came through the breaks in the clouds and painted the surface of the Pacific with patchy light. A bit later, after I made this photograph, the clouds thinned even more and high, pink sunset clouds appeared briefly. And there was not another person anywhere near me to see it.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay Fog

December 26, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Alcatraz Island is almost completely obscured by San Francisco Bay fog drifting beneath blue sky.

This is another of what I sort of think of as my “barely there” photographs, in which I work with subjects that are almost completely obscured by fog, mist, rain, or clouds. Some of my Yosemite Valley photographs from a rainy weekend near the end of this past October are in the same category.

You can experience an astonishing range of atmospheric conditions in and around San Francisco Bay. The patterns at this time of year (the very end of fall, and more like winter conditions) are quite different from summer. As often as not, the fog in the winter comes from inland rather than drifting in through the Golden Gate, and it is more related to the tule fog that can sit in the Central Valley during the winter, sometimes for weeks. On the other hand, after the passage of a winter storm (which brings its own impressive conditions) the winter air over the Bay can be crystal clear. And frequently the conditions can change rapidly, as was the case on this morning. When I arrived in the Marin Headlands above the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge before dawn, I was initially a bit disappointed that the conditions were too clear! Except for a bank of clouds right above San Francisco (the subject of some other recently posted photographs) the rest of the Bay was almost completely clear. But then, at first imperceptibly and then very quickly, fog began to condense out of the air above the bay. In a short period of time subjects that had been clearly visible were completely obscured. Within moments after making this photograph, Alcatraz was not longer visible.

This photograph is 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: Central California, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Winter Evening, Big Sur Coastline

December 22, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 8 Comments

Last light of a winter evening shines on a shoreline bluff along the Big Sur coastline.

As the very end of 2010 approaches, here is a photograph from the very beginning of 2010, made back on January 2. It very similar to a photograph of this scene I posted back then, but it is not the same photograph, and I know like this one at least as much as the earlier selection. (And I feel justified in using two photos from the shoot after the case of poison oak rash I picked up making them!)

As I recall, this was another of those evenings that first looked very promising, then turned gray as the sun dropped behind clouds over the ocean, but held out hope for a last moment of color as the setting sun dropped to the horizon and beneath the clouds. And, as sometimes happens, it actually worked! I had seen this spot before but not stopped to photograph it quite this way. As I passed by while heading south earlier in the afternoon I had made a mental note about the possibilities for the scene, and when I turned back to the north to start my drive home I had decided to stop here. The scene is impressive, with the coast curving inward and then back out the left where a creek comes down to the sea, and with bluffs, sea stacks, and higher hills beyond. And on this evening the sky was full of pastel colors. So I stopped, unloaded the camera gear, and headed out (through the poison oak!) onto the bluff above the cove where I waited for light. And just at sunset a band of beautiful, warm, diffused light touched the bluff across the cove.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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