Tag Archives: north america

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

Three Pelicans, Blue Sky

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Three Pelicans, Blue Sky
Three Pelicans, Blue Sky

Three Pelicans, Blue Sky. Pacific Coast, California. May 30, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three pelicans fly along the California Pacific coastline under clearing fog and blue sky.

To my surprise, I got to feed my pelican obsession on Memorial Day. As we drove up the coast north of Santa Cruz, where the road frequently follows the edges of coastal bluffs where they drop off into the Pacific, we started to notice larger than usual groups of pelicans heading north and riding the updrafts next to the cliffs. Having watched these birds many times before, I have learned a bit about their “traffic patterns,” so I suspected that if we went a bit further north to where the road comes down at a beach where a creek enters the ocean that we might encounter the same birds as they, too, dropped down to the water’s edge.

My hunch turned out to be right, and a few minutes after we arrived I caught a glimpse of the distant flock coming around the edge of the bluffs to the south and starting to descend toward the beach. They approached over the edge of the surf, but then turned toward the land as they started to climb again to rise above the next bluff to the north – and for a few seconds I was able to track and photograph them against the thinning fog and blue sky.

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

Sailboats, Pacific Ocean

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Sailboats, Pacific Ocean
Sailboats, Pacific Ocean

Sailboats, Pacific Ocean. Pacific Coast between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, California. May 30, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sailboats under spring skies along the Pacific Ocean coast south of San Francisco.

Memorial Day was a day of nearly perfect weather along the California coast between Santa Cruz and Point Reyes. (When we eventually got to Point Reyes it was nearly windless – and anyone who has been there knows how rare that is.) We started in Santa Cruz for breakfast and then headed north up Highway 1 along the coast. A ways north of Santa Cruz we came upon that zone where the high fog was just breaking up along a border with areas of blue sky. Everything, from the water to the clouds to the sky was some shade of luminous blue.

The photograph was made from a high bluff not far from Waddell Creek. We initially stopped to look for shore birds, since they fly very close to the edge of the bluff, using updrafts to travel along the coast. The high vantage point made the color of the ocean a bit deeper and made more of it visible between the near shore and the horizon. The sailboats were a surprise – I don’t usually see them along this section of the coast.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | 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: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cascade Creek Spring Torrent

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Cascade Creek Spring Torrent
Cascade Creek Spring Torrent

Cascade Creek Spring Torrent. Yosemite National Park, California. May 7, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small tree stands in the raging spring torrent of Cascade Creek, Yosemite National Park.

This may be the final photograph in this series I shot in early May when I visited this seasonal cascade on the way into Yosemite Valley. Compared to some of the others this one takes in a larger portion of the scene, mainly so that I could include the little leafless tree or bush at the lower left, as it stands against the tremendous force of the rushing water descending steeply among the rocks.

This creek is fed by seasonal snow melt fairly early in the season because the ares that feed its flow are at a relatively lower elevation. For a while each year, but especially in a wet year like this one, this little creek rages as it drops precipitously down this narrow canyon towards a point below where it flows into the Merced River. A bridge provides an interesting vantage point from which to shoot almost directly down into the torrent.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | 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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Light on Water, Point Reyes

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Light on Water, Point Reyes
Light on Water, Point Reyes

Light on Water, Point Reyes. Point Reyes National Seashore, California. May 30, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Afternoon light filtered through incoming clouds illuminates the surface of the Pacific Ocean at Point Reyes, California.

When we were at the Point Reyes lighthouse on Memorial Day, clouds from a weak weather system were approaching the coast. Above the horizon the sky was dark and somewhat gloomy. Overhead there were broken clouds, the light coming through the cloud breaks dappled the surface of the Pacific Ocean to the northwest of the Point, and there was a larger pool of light on the horizon. All of this seemed to call for another “minimalist seascape,” so I made one.

When I made the exposure I was leaning towards a black and white image, but when I began to work with it in post and realized that it was very close to being monochromatic already, I decided to stick with the very muted colors of this version. The colors a bit more obvious in the print, but still quite subtle. The closest thing to real color is a slight golden tinge to the light on the horizon.

The Point Reyes lighthouse area is often a pretty wild place. I’ve been there when the wind was blowing so strongly that I essentially gave up on photography. It can be extremely cold out there, too, even on days when the sun is breaking out and the temperatures are warm a bit inland. But this spring day was a surprise. Apart from the passing clouds, the weather was quite comfortable, and for the first time that I can recall there were moments of no wind at all!

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | 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.