Tag Archives: marinos

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

Pelicans Along the Coast

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Pelicans Along the Coast
Pelicans Along the Coast

Pelicans Along the Coast. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. April 27, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A line of pelicans flies along the Point Lobos Reserve coastline

Brown pelicans are probably my favorite Pacific coast birds, and I often like to photograph them when I visit the nearby Pacific Ocean shoreline. However, that’s not at all what I was at Point Lobos to photograph on this late April morning. I was more in a landscape or seascape frame of mind. That said, this photograph is an example of how things most definitely do not happen in a slow, considered, or contemplative manner when shooting landscape subjects.

I was thinking about how to try to photograph the elements of very choppy near-shore water, the further rocks that we partially obscured by mist and spray, the subtle shadings of the offshore fog bank, and the blue tones of sky. I decided to use a long lens and try to line up something that included nearby shoreline elements juxtaposed with the more distant rocks. I wasn’t having an easy time coming up with a composition that I liked. I must have momentarily looked up from the camera, because I recall spotting this line of pelicans flying up from the south and thinking that if I could just operate fast enough I might be able to get them in the frame. Being set for landscape (manual exposure and focus, live view, small aperture, on the tripod), that meant trying to quickly and intuitively make a whole bunch of quick changes. I must have managed to do so just in time to squeeze off three frames as the line of birds passed through this gap in the rocks and continued on.

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

Rocks, Spray, and Gulls – Punta de los Lobos Marinos

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Rocks, Spray, and Gulls - Punta de los Lobos Marinos

Rocks, Spray, and Gulls – Punta de los Lobos Marinos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. November 22, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two gulls on offshore rocks, engulfed in ocean spray and illuminated by the light of the setting sun, Punta de los Lobos Marinos, Point Lobos State Reserve. California.

Shooting almost directly into the setting sun, I photographed the wild spray as a weather front departed, leaving waves, wind, and spray it its wake. I was amazed that the two birds remained perched and completely immobile as the wind and surf raged around them.

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

Winter Surf – Point Lobos

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Winter Surf - Point Lobos
Winter Surf – Point Lobos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. February, 9, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of huge winter surf crashing over Point Lobos rocks.

In February of 2008 I visited the Big Sur area and then stopped at Point Lobos on the way home. The Pacific coast is often at its most impressive in winter and this was an exceptional day, with absolutely huge waves rolling in from the winter Pacific Ocean. At the actual Point Lobos (an area of rocks extending a good distance out from the shoreline) we were able to get very close to the roiling surf and huge crashing waves.

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