Tag Archives: mist

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Green HIlls, Morning Mist

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Green HIlls, Morning Mist
Morning fog and mist above green spring hills

Green HIlls, Morning Mist. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog and mist above green California spring hills.

Many people who visit California for the first time are surprised by how dry much of the state is for most of the year. In many places — most of Southern California, the deserts, the Central Valley, coastal hills, even along portions of the coast — the predominant colors from late spring through autumn are golden and brown. What they don’t know, but may learn over repeated visits, is that much of the state passes through a miraculously green interval every year during late winter and early spring. During this time that dry, brown terrain becomes “impossibly green” for a short period.

This week I visited one of those places that seems desert-like during most of the year. Following recent rains there was mud everywhere, and even the driest of hills was sprouting new green growth. I camped up in a valley above a large plain, and when I arose in pre-dawn light I swore that this arid valley appeared to be full of fog. I broke camp in near-darkness, and as I drove down I entered the fog bank, which soon began to drift and thin in early sunlight, revealing this landscape of overlapping slopes, edges marked by the low-angle light.

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.

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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

Big Sur Coast, Evening Haze

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Big Sur Coast, Evening Haze
Evening winter haze and mist at sunset along the rugged Big Sur coastline

Big Sur Coast, Evening Haze. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening winter haze and mist at sunset along the rugged Big Sur coastline

This is perhaps a fairly “typical” winter view of this coastline — if such a landscape can ever by described using that term. We were on the return leg of a visit to the Los Angles Basin, and we decided to take the long route back, following US 1 up the Big Sur coast. (There is an inverse relationship between speed and rewards when traveling between northern and southern California. Racing up and down I-5 in the Central Valley has its place, but you miss a lot. US 101 is slower but more interesting, and US 1 is a lot slower and a lot more interesting!)

By the time we got out of the LA Basin — which took three hours even on a post-holiday morning — it was clear that the winter sunset would occur when we were somewhere north of Ragged Point and south of the town of Big Sur. We did not know precisely where, but along this coast it is usually possible, when you realize that the day is ending, to find a good spot fairly quickly. I picked this one perhaps 10-15 minutes before sunset, mainly by intuition as we came around a headland and saw the foreground bay, the layered headlands, and the long view to the north. I quickly got out and set up to photograph in the warm, sunset light… and then watched it “gray out” as the sun dropped behind low haze sitting on the horizon!

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.