Tag Archives: pacific

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

Rock Face, Pacific Coast Shoreline

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Rock Face, Pacific Coast Shoreline
Fractured layers of rock ascending above the edge of the ocean, Point Lobos.

Rock Face, Pacific Coast Shoreline. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Fractured layers of rock ascending above the edge of the ocean, Point Lobos.

This little peninsula at Point Lobos State Reserve couldn’t be more than a couple of hundred feet long, if that. I first visited it when I was a pre-teen and my family came here to explore tide pools. Later I took a camera and photographed here starting in my teenage years and continuing from time to time since then. By now you would think that I’d know every single rock, crevice, and layer. Yet when I go back I still see things I had missed before.

These rocks are on the inland side of the low peninsula that extends a short distance toward the entrance to a small cove. Even at high tide the rocks remain above water, though in heavy winter surf the waves can crash over this formation. It is a striking bit of rock, cut through by curving strata that briefly rise to the surface and then submerge again as they head inland. The material is what I presume to be a conglomerate, so there are many contrasting smaller embedded rocks. It is cut by fissures and cracks along the strata, and there is a seeming infinity of color and texture variations.

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

At the Wrack Line

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At the Wrack Line
Material washed up by the tide at Weston Beach, Point Lobos

At the Wrack Line. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Material washed up by the Pacific Coast tide.

It had been too long since my last visit to the coast. The Pacific Ocean is barely more than a half hour away, and the Big Sur coast is only about twice that far. This coast has been part of my life since my parents took our family there when I was a child. When traveling, two things make me nervous – being too far from mountains and being too far from the coast. So this morning, after too long of an interval, I headed over there and ended up at Point Lobos.

Much to my surprise, my first stop was at the place known as Weston Beach. (It always feels like it should be called Weston Cove, but I digress.) As I began photographing I felt a bit like perhaps I was revisiting a place that has been done, and overdone, and overdone again. But I have a personal connection to this little cove and its rocks and pebbles, and I ended up enjoying a rather long period of slowly poking around, checking out rocks, looking for stuff washed up on the shore. (About that title: I had to look up what to call this stuff, and I learned that the closet thing to an official term for natural things washed up on the beach is “wrack.”)

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

Mouth of the LIttle Sur

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Mouth of the LIttle Sur
Sun breaks through morning fog along the Big Sur coast at the Little Sur River on a spring morning.

Mouth of the LIttle Sur. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Sun breaks through morning fog along the Big Sur coast at the Little Sur River on a spring morning.

Try as I may, I cannot pass this spot without at least a brief stop. The hill (a future sea stack?) sits at the terminus of the Little Sur River, where it takes a meandering route across the beach before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. Backed by the rugged cliffs of the Big Sur coast, it is a remarkable little scene, especially on a day like this when I found myself at the edge of the fog bank, and light came and went as the fog oscillated back and forth. Beams of light traversed the face of the distant faces and raced across the beach.

If you follow my posts you know that I live close enough to the Pacific Coast to go there and photograph for the morning, and that I’ve been going there for decades. The coast is as beautiful as always, especially when I arrive early enough to beat the tourist traffic, but it is showing some rough edges these days. The extent of recent wildfires is concerning, and areas still suffer from washouts that occurred during flooding. Given that last fact, it is ironic that drought is also affecting the landscape, and places that should be in the middle of their intensely green spring growth are already turning brown.

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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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Egret on the Hunt

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Egret on the Hunt
A great egret on the hunt, Pacific Flyway.

Egret on the Hunt. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A great egret on the hunt, Pacific Flyway.

Egrets were somewhat mystical and magical birds for me when I was younger. I first became aware of them in college, when the science professor teaching one of my classes became very enthusiastic about snowy egrets. I don’t recall ever actually seeing one (not until many years later), but the stories stuck in my mind. It wasn’t long after this that I became aware of the presence of great egrets. I recall seeing them on my long bicycle commutes early in the morning. My route took my past a few creeks, and every so often I would see one of the striking white birds in the creek or, more rarely, flying near one.

They still get my attention, though I confess that other birds perhaps now fascinate me more. While I’ll almost always stop and comment when I see an egret, I’ve now seen and photographed so many that the novelty has worn off a bit. Encounters usually seem to fall into several common patterns. On occasion in winter I’ll see a group of them, perhaps in a field. Occasionally I’m fortunate enough to see one in flight. But more often they are alone, usually near water, and almost always on the hunt. They are careful and patient hunters, focusing intently on their prey as then sneak up and then, with a sudden stab of the beak, make the catch. This one was so intent on hunting that it barely noticed me as I drove by at a close distance — about as close as I have gotten to one of these birds.

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.