Tag Archives: marine

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

Elephant Seal Family

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Elephant Seal Family
Elephant Seal Family

Elephant Seal Family. Piedras Blancas, California. January 31, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Baby elephant seal and its mother, Piedras Blancas

I spent some time photographing at the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas, California at the end of January, but I let the image files sit for a few months before going back and looking at them with fresh eyes. The rookery at Piedras Blancas is special for several reasons. Not that long ago the elephant seal popular was terribly depleted on the west coast, but they have made a tremendous come-back in recent years, and now the Piedras Blancas rookery is one of the places where these huge animals are easy to see. During the breeding/birthing season they haul out on this beach (and many others that are less accessible) that is right off of the Pacific Coast Highway, making it very easy to observe them.

At times the beach is literally covered with these creatures — the huge males, the smaller breeding females, and the newborn babies. The sound is amazing, and I doubt that I can offer any real description in words. You have to hear it. The big males make guttural sounds that seem almost mechanical. The babies howl and whine. Most of the time they lie almost still on the sand, but every so often something sets them off and pairs will engage in mutually threatening behavior, especially some of the males who are apparently trying to establish dominance. The little scene in the photograph belies all of that action, as an elephant seal pup rests next to its mother’s curving body.

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.
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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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: San Francisco

Departing Freighter

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Departing Freighter
Departing Freighter

Departing Freighter. San Francisco, California. March 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A freighter heads out of the Golden Gate and into the Pacific Ocean on a winter morning

I was on my way to a location north of the Golden Gate Bridge, having left home while it was still dark and crossing the bridge as the sky just begin to lighten. As I often do when I pass by here, I left the main highway for a short time and went up a ways into the Marin Headlands to see what sort of early morning light might appear over the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. The lights of the City were still on at this early hour, so I first photographed in that direction.

There was a variety of types of clouds around the Bay—fog to the south and east, high clouds above, and a bit of general haze everywhere. As the sun came up behind the East Bay clouds and fog there was a bit of color, though the effect was subtle. A bit later this very large freighter approached the bridge as it prepared to leave the bay. It was one of the largest that I have seen pass beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. I went back to shooting other subjects, but my attention periodically went back to this ship as it moved farther off shore. Eventually a bit of muted sunlight hit the boat and some light came to the higher clouds as it headed on toward an off-shore fog bank and then, I imagine, a much longer voyage across the Pacific.

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

Elephant Seal – Face and Flippers

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Elephant Seal - Face and Flippers
Elephant Seal – Face and Flippers

Elephant Seal – Face and Flippers. Piedras Blancas, California. January 31, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

In a pile of elephant seals, one animal rests its head on the back of another

Here is another elephant seal “portrait” from our end-of-January to an elephant seal “nursery” near the southern end of California’s Big Sur coastline. We had a day to photograph the Big Sur coast, so we made this spot the target for our turn-around point, photographing the coast on the way down and back.

This popular place to view the elephant seals when they come ashore for breeding is very close to the Pacific Coast Highway, and it attracts a lot of visitors. In contrast to many such places, where the seals are (lucky for them!) not very accessible to visitors, here a walkway has been constructed along a low bluff right above the beach where the seals give birth and raise pups each winter. In most ways, this is some of the least challenging wildlife photography you’ll ever encounter! Yet the opportunity to be so close to these huge beasts is hard to resist. The photography turns out to be just a bit more tricky than you might think when you show up to find hundreds of elephant seals laid out along a beach that is only a few yards away from your position. The seals are not exactly the most active critters around, and most of the time they lie prone in the sand, occasionally slapping a flipper or opening an eye. My approach is to watch for animals in positions that might make good photographs should they decide to become active, and then to watch attentively for signs of action and, especially, for interactions among the animals or the occasional animal watching me.

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: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Elephant Seals – Mother and Pup

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Elephant Seals - Mother and Pup
Elephant Seals – Mother and Pup

Elephant Seals – Mother and Pup. Piedras Blancas, California. January 31, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dark elephant seal pup rests its head on its lighter-colored mother.

I first visited this popular elephant seal calving area a few years back when I took a detour on a trip back from Southern California. I was familiar with the elephant seals of northern California, but I had not realized that they were in the south as well, so I was surprised when I came upon this place which has been set up as an observation station where visitors can watch a beach full of these immense creatures close-up. As I understand the outlines of the story, their numbers had decreased to very low levels until they were protected a few decades ago. Since then the population has rebounded. Each year when I visit this location it seems like I see more of them, and they are now starting to show up on other nearby beaches.

These animals are wild and tough creatures. They spend large parts of their lives in the ocean where they are apparently graceful creatures. On land, where they are found here, they can appear to be lazy and awkward and almost humorous at times. At this location in the winter, they mostly seem to lie on the sand – where they are no doubt safe from large off-shore predators – as they raise their pups. From what I read, the females come ashore and then do not eat during the period when they nurse their pups to weights of a few hundred pounds! The herd produces a wild cacophony of sounds that I do not have the vocabulary to fully describe – cries, screams, roars, and the deep and mechanical sound of the large males. Occasional fights erupt, especially a bit later in the season as the males battle for dominance. But if you look around in this mass of seal flesh, you can spot some vignettes that seem somewhere between funny and cute. This small back pup had lifted its head up so that could rest it on the back of the larger and lighter colored elephant seal, which I presume to be its mother.

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.