Tag Archives: orange

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

Strolling Along Asilomar Beach, Sunset

December 29, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Walkers stroll along misty Asilomar Beach at sunset, Pacific Grove.

Although this might momentarily evoke thoughts of summers at the beach in sunny California… this was shot in the middle of December, and it was rather cold! (The hardy beach-walkers in shorts and bare feet might make you think otherwise.) During the better part of a week spent in the Carmel Valley area I had a number of opportunities to visit nearby coastal areas, and on this evening I had just enough time to make it over to this area at Asilomar State Beach before the sun set.

The winter surf gives this section of the coast a very different look than it has in the winter. In general, the surf is a lot rougher. Along much of this section of coast in Pacific Grove the edge of the water drops off quickly in rocky terrain, but here there is a beach and the beach becomes wider and less steep as it works its way south from this spot. The winter air was a bit hazy and the surf added some mist, creating this colorful glow right about the time of sunset. There were quite a few people out walking on the beach, many with their dogs, so I found an interesting composition shooting along the edge of the water and its reflected sky and then waited for individual walks to place themselves in interesting parts of the frame.

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

Winter Surf, Asilomar Beach, Twilight

December 24, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Winter Surf, Asilmar Beach, Twilight - Pacific Grove, California. — Winter Surf, Asilomar Beach, Twilight

Winter surf at twilight at Asilomar Beach, Pacific Grove, California.

I was in the Monterey Peninsula area for several days in mid-December for mostly non-photographic reasons, but I managed to get away and make some photographs on several occasions. On this evening I had just enough time to quickly head over to the Pacific Grove area at Asilomar Beach in the evening. I arrived a bit before sunset and quickly found a spot with several photographic possibilities.

I began by shooting along a the beach toward the setting sun, and including the figures of lots of people who were out strolling along this beach. I though that the silhouettes of the people were interesting, along with the colors of the late-day sky and their reflections on the water and the wet areas of the sand. After the sun dropped below the horizon I mostly stopped photographing people – my shutter speeds had to be too low to stop their motion – and I began to work with longer exposures that allowed the water to blur to a greater or lesser extent, while focusing more on the intense colors of the post-sunset period.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

San Francisco Skyline, Pre-Dawn Sky

December 12, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Pre-dawn sky begins to light the skyline of San Francisco, California.

While at San Francisco’s Crissy Field to photograph the lunar eclipse over the Golden Gate Bridge I realized that this unusual celestial phenomenon was by no means the only worthy subject at this early morning hour. Meanwhile, there was a beautiful and mysterious sunrise developing in the eastern sky beyond the City and over the East Bay, enhanced by a lot of atmospheric haze. (This was the same haze that ultimately caused the eclipsed moon to fade to invisibility shortly after the sky began to lighten.) So, while 99% of the photographers were still pointing their lenses west, I (along with a few other folks) pointed east and toward this section of the San Francisco skyline in roughly the Knob Hill and Russian Hill areas, with the familiar shape of the Transamerica pyramid partially hidden behind closer buildings and some typical San Francisco neighborhood buildings and trees up close at the bottom.

Yet again, this scene reinforced the idea that it is always important to look around at the whole scene. It is so easy to become completely focused on the single subject that you started out with – and sometimes this is a good thing! – that you may overlook other worthy subjects in other directions. I still have to remind myself sometimes to look up and scan my surroundings to see what else might be worth photographing.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Shoreline Rocks, Sierra Nevada

December 5, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Small plants grow on rocks near the shoreline of a sub-alpine Sierra Nevada Lake, Yosemite National Park.

Little gardens grow in these jumbles of rocks and boulders near the outlet stream of this sub-alpine lake where I spent nearly four days this past September. During this mid-September time frame the colors of the high country autumn are beginning to appear, as seen in the orange and brown colors of some of the leaves on the plants among the rocks.

I arrived at this lake late in the day, the rest of my party having arrived there earlier. They had the advantage of a pack train to carry most of their gear up here, but I was self-contained and schlepping the whole mess of backpacking and photography gear myself. I was beat when I arrived, and I first thought that I might just write off doing any photography that evening and just rest up and recuperate. But I started to feel a bit guilty about my laziness in the evening, and I went for a walk around the outlet stream of the nearby creek and made a few photographs in the soft evening light.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: orange

Winter Surf, Asilomar Beach, Twilight

San Francisco Skyline, Pre-Dawn Sky

Shoreline Rocks, Sierra Nevada

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