Tag Archives: ocean

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

Sea Stacks, Pacific Coast

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Sea stacks along the upper Big Sur coastline

Sea Stacks, Pacific Coast. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sea stacks along the upper Big Sur coastline.

California’s Pacific coastline is a sort of “home base” for me. Despite being born in landlocked Minnesota, I’ve lived within less than an hour of the coast since I was four-years-old. My childhood memories include trips to Santa Cruz, Monterey, and points north and south. One of our favorites was visiting the Point Lobos tide pools.

Many visitors to the coast come hoping to see beautiful blue sky days with warm sun. Those are not my favorite conditions — I prefer a good winter storm or the right kind of fog. But this photograph was made on one of those days back in April of this year. Following a wet winter, this was one of those glorious early-spring days when even I welcome the sunshine along this coast!

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: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Clouds Above The Pacific

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Clouds Over The Pacific
Clouds cast shadows on the Pacific Ocean, as seen from the mountains of Redwood National Park

Clouds Above The Pacific. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds cast shadows on the Pacific Ocean, as seen from the mountains of Redwood National Park.

While this obviously doesn’t look like the typical Redwood National and State Parks photograph… that is, indeed, where it comes from. We spent a week in the coastal areas of Northern California in early June, mostly in and around these parks and mostly looking for photographs of the redwood forests and the rhododendron bloom. We had headed up one road to a popular grove where we thought we might fine the flowers in bloom among the trees, but this road also leads to other interesting places, including some open, ridge top “prairie” lands and other locations providing distant views that are quite different from what you find inside the forest.

This photograph is an illustration of something that often surprises folks when they consider landscape, namely that a lot of it does not come from careful planning and slow, methodical work, but rather by being in the right place at the right moment and being ready to respond quickly to rapidly changing conditions. When we went up this road and even when we pulled over at this spot, I would be lying if I claimed that I pre-visualized this subject or this scene. But once I saw it — big, back-lit clouds floating past and casting shadows on the reflective surface of the sea beyond the undulating, tree-covered foreground ridge — I worked quickly to make a few photographs as the scene evolved. And did it evolved quickly! Only moments later these clouds had almost entirely dissipated.

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: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Shoreline, Mendocino Bay

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Shoreline, Mendocino Bay
Morning light on beaches and river delta, Mendocino Bay

Shoreline, Mendocino Bay. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on beaches and river delta, Mendocino Bay.

We just returned from a week along the far northern California coast, with a few days in the Mendocino area followed by four more in the Redwood National and State Parks between Eureka/Arcata and Crescent City. Patty and I had several goals on this trip: getting away from the busy and crowded San Francisco Bay Area, visiting foggy redwoods while rhododendrons were in bloom, spending time along the coast, and — of course! — making photographs. We were successful on all counts… except for the fog! I seem to have a special knack for making the fog depart from the redwoods. While this makes the locals very happy, I have yet to encounter the lovely and widely-rumored Redwood National Park fog.

We spent the first two nights in Mendocino, the quaint little village on a peninsula jutting into the Pacific. On the first morning I was up and out the door relatively early, walking out along the northern headlands overlooking Mendocino Bay. Sunrise photography here can be a bit tricky, as the hills to the east obstruct the first light. But wait until the sun clears the forested ridges and add a bit of morning ocean mist and the scene becomes quite lovely. This photograph looks along the shoreline of the bay, past sea stacks and headland cliffs, toward the Big River delta and a Pacific Coast highway bridge.

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Pacific Coast Highway, Spring

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Pacific Coast Highway, Spring
Spring grass and wildflowers on the California Coast along the Pacific Coast Highway below Carmel

Pacific Coast Highway, Spring. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring grass and wildflowers on the California Coast along the Pacific Coast Highway below Carmel.

Just another spring day along the Big Sur coast. Really. I had the morning free so I headed down the coast, getting as far as the upper Big Sur coast, where spring was coming on strong. The hillsides were green (they will be brown soon enough!) and there were wildflowers everywhere.

This cove is a familiar one, located in the upper section of this part of the coastline, below Carmel and above the settlement of Big Sur. It is often a lovely spot, with the cove on one side and a point extending into the ocean on the other, and with rugged rocks and sea stacks everywhere. On this morning I looked at this scene across the headland, covered with spring greenery and yellow flowers.

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.