Tag Archives: north america

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

Rocks and Fog, Point Lobos

July 27, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A rocky peninsula drops into the ocean on a foggy morning at Point Lobos State Reserve.

On this morning it was foggy and drizzling at Point Lobos and there was a surprising amount of surf for a summer morning. When I arrived shortly after the park opened, there were few other people about. With the moving water and the low light conditions, I decided that this was a good time to do some work with long daytime exposures, so I got out my 9-stop neutral density filters and went about looking for compositions.

After shooting down closer to the water in the cove to the left of these rocks, I wandered up a trail along the shoreline that took me to a point that was a bit higher above the water. As I looked back I saw that the rocks that defined the cove that I had been shooting appeared to head straight out into the water towards a distant peninsula and then submerge – a rather different take on this feature.

By using this filter I was able to get an eight-second exposure in this light. Longer would have been better, but the light was beginning to come through the fog a bit and I didn’t have much choice. With an exposure this “short” I had to be a bit careful about timing the shots, trying to get the right amount of water breaking over the rocks.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Morning, San Francisco Bay

July 26, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning fog covers Oakland and the East Bay Hills as hazy sun illuminates sailboats and ships on San Francisco Bay beyond the Golden Gate Bridge.

This photograph was made from high in the Marin Headlands, after hiking up to the hill above Battery 129 near the high point on Conzelman Road, the scenic route that climbs this ridge above the Golden Gate. I had earlier shot a similar scene from a spot just a bit lower, but by now the morning fog and haze was clearing enough to allow a bit more sun to light up the waters of the Bay and to reveal a subtle blue color. (Later the blue would be much deeper, and earlier it had been nearly gray.) This particular shade of blue is one of the things I liked about this scene on this particular day.

The hill at lower left is part of the Marin Headlands and drops from the road almost straight down to the water. The small bit of land intruding into the frame on the left just above the wake of a boat is Alcatraz Island. Beyond that is Treasure Island and its companion, Yerba Buena Island. The latter is crossed by the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, leading to Oakland which is just barely visible under the fog over the East Bay hills. Near the upper right is a tiny bit of one of the piers along the San Francisco waterfront.

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

Offshore Fog Bank, Marin Headlands

July 24, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Offshore fog lies beyond Point Bonita and Rodeo Beach and the Marin Headlands of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

I was surprised to find a clear view like this during my mid-July visit to the Marin Headlands of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) across the Bay from San Francisco. I had almost decided to stay home or go elsewhere based on weather reports that had the coast completely socked in my dense fog for most of the day. Indeed, it was foggy as I passed through San Francisco and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. The fog was high, and I could see some distance beneath it, but it was still a rather gray day.

Since the lower section of Conzelman Road, the normal quick and scenic route up into the headlands, was closed for construction, I took that alternate route that passes through a tunnel to come out near Rodeo Beach. I turned left up the hill to reach the upper section of the road. After photographing near Battery 129 for a while, the sun began to break through the fog, and I was surprised to find a fairly clear patch just outside the Golden Gate.

The photograph shows the last section of the headlands as the hills drop towards the historic fort and batteries near the Point Bonito light house, which is barely visible at the end of the peninsula on the left. The line of surf at the upper right is Rodeo Beach, a popular spot with Bay Area folks.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Alpenglow, Trees, and Granite – Upper Young Lake

July 22, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 9 Comments

Alpenglow light on trees growing among granite boulders below glacially carved cliffs at Upper Young Lake.

This is one of my favorite locations in the Yosemite back-country and, in fact, in the entire Sierra Nevada range. This beautiful sub-alpine basis contains three lovely lakes and is surrounded by varied terrain that includes distant views, peaks and ridges towering above, lodgepole pine forests, meadows small and large, and an open view to the west that often provides stunning light late in the day.

As is usually the case, I was camped at the lower Young Lake – this time for several days of photography – and I had headed to the upper lake late in the day to do some evening photography. I have photographed there quite a few times, but I still haven’t come close to exhausting the photographic potential of the place. On this evening I knew that I wanted to be ready to photograph the golden hour light, but I was also interested in the smaller groups of trees that grow among the granite boulders and I wanted to see what might develop as alpenglow struck the glacial slopes above the lake.

There is a small, fun twist to the story of this visit to Upper Young Lake. I took a semi-cross-country route to the upper lake from my camp at the lower lake, and because I knew that I’d be returning alone in deep twilight or even after dark, on the hike up I was concentrating intensely on fixing a series of landmarks in my mind for the return hike. I was so single-minded about this that I made it all the way to the lake and my first intended subject (a small shoreline tree) without looking around much. It was only a moment after arriving that I got out of focus-on-the-route mode and looked around. I had walked right past the campsite of a couple of photographers without even seeing them, much less saying “hi.” Turns out that the photographers were John Sexton and Anne Larsen. After exchanging greetings and conversation, I went about my business of shooting along the edge of the lake. (If I recall correctly, John was shooting nearby as I made this exposure.)

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: north america

Rocks and Fog, Point Lobos

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Offshore Fog Bank, Marin Headlands

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Alpenglow, Trees, and Granite – Upper Young Lake

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

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