Tag Archives: one

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Five Brown Peilicans

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Five Brown Peilicans
Five brown pelicans skim along just above the surf along the California coast on a winter day.

Five Brown Peilicans. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Five brown pelicans skim along just above the surf along the California coast on a winter day.

Photographing along this section of California’s coast presents a lot of decisions. Should I focus on winter surf, the haze and clouds, the land-meets-sea landscape, beaches, surfers and beachcombers, wildlife? I usually start out with one or two of these in mind — it was the atmosphere and the waves on this visit — but soon get distracted by the others.

The coastal pelicans are usually spotted gliding along just offshore, heading north or south along the coast. (They do land, but it is less common to find them settled on the ground.) They often fly extremely close to the water — so close that it seems that they are almost touching it as they follow the counters of the rising and falling surf.

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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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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Wave, Horizon, and Clouds

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Wave, Horizon, and Clouds
A wave close to shore, the distant horizoon, and clouds from an approaching Pacific storm.

Wave, Horizon, and Clouds. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A wave close to shore, the distant horizoon, and clouds from an approaching Pacific storm.

This peaceful looking scene may perhaps mislead just a bit — but not completely. I stood along the edge of a beach north of Santa Cruz to make this photograph, on a hazy, cloudy day when a Pacific weather from approached and the surf rose. I intentionally left out anything that would give a sense of scale here, so you are free to regard the height of the wave subjectively.

After decades of living close enough to the Pacific Coast to visit the shoreline regularly, sometimes I think that I may start to take it for granted. It happens. But inevitably I’ll look out toward that far horizon — whether from a high overlook or down near the water — and again ponder the immensity of the sea and the timelessness of these scenes. All of which seems like a fine thing to consider as we complete yet another loop around the sun.

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 | Twitter | 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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Cliff, Surf, and Incoming Storm

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Cliff, Surf, and Incoming Storm
The clouds from an incoming winter storm fill the sky beyond Pacific Ocean surf and a coastal cliff.

Cliff, Surf, and Incoming Storm. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

The clouds from an incoming winter storm fill the sky beyond Pacific Ocean surf and a coastal cliff.

Knowing that a sequence of Pacific storms was on its way, and that this might cut into opportunities for photography for a while, I headed over the hill to the nearest part of the Pacific coast, the section north of Santa Cruz. This is quite familiar territory for me now — I have been going there for decades. While the big surf was expected, the atmospheric conditions were unusual, with thick coastal haze and high clouds from the storm starting to mute the light and shift its colors.

I often note that even in very familiar locations I can still find new perspectives. I’ve stopped and wandered at this beach more times than I can remember, but this is the first time I’ve been to this particular overlook where the small stream enters the ocean at the base of a cliff below coastal bluffs.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Pacific Ocean, Big Sur

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Pacific Ocean, Big Sur
Looking west across the Pacific Ocean from the Big Sur mountains on a quiet autumn day.

Pacific Ocean, Big Sur. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Looking west across the Pacific Ocean from the Big Sur mountains on a quiet autumn day.

Views like this never fail to make me pause. There’s something about an expanse of “empty” earth, whether liquid or solid, that focuses the attention. It could be standing at the Arctic Circle and looking north (which I’e done only once), viewing expansive desert terrain from a mountain ridge, or looking across the ocean toward the distant horizon from a high viewpoint. I’m not sure I can articulate the attraction precisely, but it includes the immense space, the absence of obvious human presence, and the encounter with deep time in a place that has probably looked like this for what seems like forever.

Perhaps ironically, this particular view is from a spot along the Pacific Coast Highway that can be crowded ruing the high tourist season. However, on this late-autumn weekday morning there was almost no one else around, and I shared this spot with a single cyclist who had stopped for a snack at the top of the climb.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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