Tag Archives: one

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

Edge of the Pacific

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Edge of the Pacific
Boulders and surf under clearing fog along the Big Sur coast.

Edge of the Pacific. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Boulders and surf under clearing fog along the Big Sur coast.

This photograph likely looks a bit… ambiguous. In fact, it was that sort of day along this section of the California coast. I’m generally a fan of fog when I go to photograph there, but getting just the right amount of fog in the right places takes a bit of luck — we don’t control that! I was hoping for the kind of day that starts with thick, mysterious fog but then transitions to clearing, gradually revealing features as the sun begins to appear. But that fog never fully cleared. (At one point as I was photographing a disappointed tourist stopped and more or less asked me where the Pacific Ocean was and whether or not he might be able to see it.)

Later in the afternoon the fog did begin to diminish a bit, but it remained right up against the coast. In many places when I positioned myself to photograph over the ocean, the sun was shining on the hills directly behind me as I pointed the camera into the murk at the edge fo the land. In this spot the fog had sufficiently thinned right at the coast and I was able to make out rocks right at the water’s edge… but the fog obscured and muted the more distant ocean. That distant, fuzzy line near the top of the frame is some vague, opaque combination of the horizon and fog.

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

Edge of the Continent

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Edge of the Continent
The rugged cliffs of the Big Sur coast meet the Pacific Ocean under cloudy skies.

Edge of the Continent. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The rugged cliffs of the Big Sur coast meet the Pacific Ocean under cloudy skies.

Although I was born in the Upper Midwest, I don’t think I could live there anymore — even though many aspects of the place are in my blood and feel comfortable to me. I recall visiting a few decades ago — and, honestly, generally enjoying myself — but watching the sun set and thinking about how many hundreds (more than a thousand, actually) of miles it is to the ocean. I can’t quite put the feeling into words, but it just seemed odd to this guy who has lived perhaps 25 linear miles from the Pacific Ocean for, well, more than a couple of decades.

I was thinking about this feeling as I visited the area in this photograph, the Big Sur Coast of California, the rugged interface between North America and the vast Pacific Ocean. The sense that there is an empty, unknown space that we don’t inhabit has long had a powerful effect on us, and here at the edge of the continent we can come face to face with a wilderness that most of us will never fully explore.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

Surf, Sand, and Fog

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Surf, Sand, and Fog
A wave breaks on a Big Sur coast beach on a foggy morning.

Surf, Sand, and Fog. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A wave breaks on a Big Sur coast beach on a foggy morning.

This may be one of the “quieter” photographs I’ve posted in a while, but maybe that’s a good thing. It comes from another recent visit to the Big Sur Coast below Monterey, California. While it has been historically hot and dry in virtually all of California this year, the coastal areas have provided a welcome exception. Even on some of the days when heat (and dryness) records were toppling further inland, along much of the coast it was typical summer weather, cool and foggy. (Some folks are now referring the the current month as “Fogust.”)

We live in a San Francisco Bay Area location that, while not on or ever all that close to the water, is near enough to pick up the ocean influence, which here typically means high fog in the mornings and a breeze in the evening. On the day of this visit to the coast there was fog (and some wildfire smoke and haze) almost everywhere, but it was the thin sort that simply mutes and softens the features of the landscape rather than rendering them invisible. I stopped here to photograph something else, and after finishing that task I looked at the beach and saw this very quiet and peaceful scene of a bit of beach, a single breaking wave, and the ocean extending toward the foggy 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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, Photographs: Travel

Coastal Pinnacles, Fog

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Coastal Pinnacles, Fog
Rocky pinnacles rise above the rugged Big Sur coastline.

Coastal Pinnacles, Fog. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rocky pinnacles rise above the rugged Big Sur coastline.

On some days photography is easy. It seems that subjects are everywhere, and all of them are obvious, compelling, and beautiful. But most days aren’t like that. This week’s day trip to the Big Sur coast was great but it had its challenges. Ironically, the major challenge came from the trigger for this visit: fog. California summers can be “too beautiful,” if your idea of beauty is perfect warm blue sky days. (Though such days are increasingly affected by wildfire smoke, but I digress…) I prefer more interesting conditions, and coastal fog fills the bill. But it presents some challenges, often related to fickle local conditions. The ideal is to have just the right amount of fog, which means enough to be interesting but not so much as to kill all directional light. (A tourist stopped while I was making this photograph and, obviously distressed by the near invisibly of the nearby ocean, asked “is it always like this?)

On the plus side, there is virtually always something to see no matter where you stop along the Big Sur coast, and I “discover” some new features on every visit. For no particular reason I stopped above a small bay filled with fog, and when I walked to the edge I spotted this dramatic feature below near the edge of the surf — a peninsula with pinnacles running out toward a small island nearly obscured by the fog. I set up and made a few exposures, then settled in to way for a bit more clearing. The for was right up against the coast, and there was occasional sunlight only feet behind me, so I figured that the fog would continue to dissipate. I was wrong. Even though it was midday, when the sun usually wins out over the fog, the view became more obscure and this photograph, on of the first I made, turned out to be the keeper.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.