Pacific Ocean, Winter Mist. South of San Francisco, California. January 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
Photographed from high on a bluff north of Santa Cruz overlooking the Pacific Ocean, on a day when giant swells were coming in from Pacific winter storms.
keywords: Seascape, Place, California,Pacific, Ocean, Winter, waves, reflections, mist, fog, clouds, surface, seascape, water, waves, swell, black and white
Winter Surf, Gulls. South of San Francisco, California. January 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved..
Photographed on the day of the 2008 Mavericks Surf competition, but a few mile further south along the California coast, this was a day of huge winter surf.
keywords: seascape, sea, shore, california, pacific, ocean, winter, ocean, flock, birds, gulls, fly, waves, fog, cliffs, beach, surf, black and white, stock, coast, usa, travel, scenic, nature
Winter Surf – Pacific Ocean. South of San Francisco, California. January 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
keywords: wave, reflection, fog, mist, sun, ocean, pacific, coast, sea, seascape, winter, san francisco, california, usa, santa cruz, landscape, break, minimalism, landscape, travel, scenic, stock, black and white
I would love to claim that this photograph was the result of careful planning. But it wasn’t. I arrived too early at Point Lobos, and rather than waiting around, on a whim I decided to drive south. Here I encountered fog clinging to the coastline above huge Pacific winter surf—in fact, it was the surf creating this misty effect as the huge waves lifted spray into the air. This haze was only down by the water, and overhead the sky was crystal clear and the sun was shining. So, it was essentially by coincidence that I found myself in this spot at all, much less with all of these conditions in place.
Because it was morning and because the mist was very shallow, light from above shone into and through the fog, creating the light beams that cut diagonally through the scene. Although this spot is known to other photographers, I had not shot it before nor did I realize that I was there until after I happened to look around a spot this cave.
(This post and photo were revised in January of 2025.)
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.