Tag Archives: morning

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetland Plants, Dawn

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Wetland Plants, Dawn
Water plants grow in a wetland pond, photographed just before sunrise, california, usa, north, america, mnwr, nature, landscape, central, san joaquin, valley

Wetland Plants, Dawn. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Water plants grow in a wetland pond, photographed just before sunrise.

California is a state of astonishingly diverse landscapes, and quite a few of them can seem almost monumental — the peaks of the Sierra Nevada, the vast expanses of deserts, the long Pacific coast shoreline, the redwood forests, and more. These are the subjects that often attract visitors, and I’m not immune to their attractions either. In fact, I’ve spent years photographing all of them, and I continue to do so. But as a person who has lived nearly his entire life in the state, I have learned — sometimes rather slowly! — that there are other, more subtle landscapes that are also quite beautiful.

Wetland scenes like this one are among those that might easily be overlooked at first. In fact, I was guilty of overlooking them for decades, even though I had opportunities to get to know them. It was only in the past decade or some that I became entranced by them, often as a side-effect of photographing other subjects that brought me there. They are found all over the state — near the mouths of rivers, in the shallows surrounding San Francisco Bay and similar bodies, it various flatlands. I made this photograph in a place that most folks looking for California beauty would not visit — a quiet place in an agricultural area where winter rains collect in shallow ponds. I was there on a quiet morning, arriving before dawn when the first light was coming to the eastern sky and the colors reflected on the surface of the still water.

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, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Morning, Fog, Surf

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Morning, Fog, Surf, Big Sur
“Morning, Fog, Surf” — Bright morning light illuminates fog along the Big Sur coast as storm wave run up against the cliffs

The fog in this photograph doesn’t come from the usual source. Typically, along this section of California’s Big Sur coastline, fog rolls in from the ocean in big, fluffy, low-level clouds. That fog is a dark, damp, gray thing, and — with the exception of the moments while it is clearing — it generally does not let in much light. The “fog” in this photograph, which might more accurately be called mist or spray, comes from gigantic waves from a winter storm breaking along the coast in windy conditions. The waves produced this mist on this day of surf up to 40 feet high.

The photograph could also serve as an example of looking away from the most obvious thing. The location is at or just before a very popular and iconic stopping place along the Coast Highway in the Big Sur region. In fact, many people making a quick trip down from the north choose this spot as their turn-around point. I stopped a bit before the throng and pointed my lens in a different direction, down toward a familiar beach lying at the base of huge shoreline cliffs. The beach isn’t visible — the giant waves were so strong that they ran all the way up to the base of the cliff. I decided on a high key interpretation of this scene in order to reveal the glowing backlight slanting across the cliff from above.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Autumn Sky

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White Pelicans, Autumn Sky
A small flock of white pelicans flies against a late autumn morning sky

White Pelicans, Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small flock of white pelicans flies against a late autumn morning sky

For a long time I thought that all California pelicans were the brown pelicans, familiar to anyone who spends time along the coast. Those magnificent birds (with what seems to me to be an almost prehistoric aspect) glide up and down the California coast, floating past headlands, and sometimes alighting on beaches or rocks. I had seen photographs of other pelicans and wondered that they often were while, even though every pelican I had encountered was not.

It turns out that I was simply ignorant of birds that were close by the whole time. In the past few years I have learned that white pelicans are all over California — in inland areas, in lakes, close to the ocean. They are beautiful birds, especially when in flight. I often see them in groups of perhaps a dozen or two, flying in almost straight lines with slowly moving wings. In my (probably atypical) experience, I either see them on the ground near or in water, and off in the distance, or I get quick glimpses as they fly past me. The latter was the case here. I was not far away when I saw a group take off and head towards a spot not far from my position. I quickly moved there and managed to photograph them as they passed overhead with a larger group of geese in flight against the autumn sky in the distance.

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, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Headlands And Mist

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Headlands And Mist
Strong late-autumn surf raises clouds of mist above rocky headlands along the Big Sur coast.

Headlands and Mist. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Strong late-autumn surf raises clouds of mist above rocky headlands along the Big Sur coast.

Today I continue with photographs from my visit to the upper Big Sur coastline in the middle of December, on a day when distant Gulf of Alaska weather fronts were sending giant surf crashing against the beaches, sea stacks, and cliffs. This is perhaps my favorite set of conditions for California coastal photography — a clear, post-storm day with giant surf that raises a layer of mist along the shoreline. When I see reports of such conditions I try my best to get over there quickly!

On the drive down, even as I passed Monterey Bay I could see the effects on the water. Waves in the bay didn’t seem unusually large, but off in the distance I could see the land at the northwest end of the Monterey Peninsula where gigantic white breakers created a line against the horizon. Once I got south of Carmel and right next to the coast the picture was even clearer, and I soon stopped on a bluff to get “up close and personal” (but from a safe spot) with the show. I made this photograph a bit further south in a spot that I’ve photographed many times. Here there is a view across several rocky ribs at the water’s edge and on to a taller hill beyond — and I know this as a spot with great potential for surf and light and for raising clouds of spray and mist.

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.