Tag Archives: plant

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

Sunset Surf, Big Sur Coastline

January 12, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

The last sunlight of the day gently lights the winter surf and coastal bluffs along highway one on the Big Sur coast of California.

This photograph is the result of a bit of good luck and a bit of planning. On this morning I heard a weather report that included a high surf warning for the northern and central California coast. I’m always alert to this in the winter since this can create some amazing photographic opportunities. With that in mind I decided somewhat spontaneously to finish up a few other tasks and then try to get to Point Lobos for some late afternoon and early evening photography there.

As I approached Point Lobos in the mid-afternoon it became apparent that I wasn’t the only person out and about on this last weekend of the holiday season! The entrance to Point Lobos itself was closed because all the parking lots were full, and scores of cars were filling the roadside pullouts near the park. Since I can go there when it isn’t so crowded I decided to change my plans and head south down the coast, ultimately going almost to Granite Creek.

At one point where the road made a broad curve to the right I was able to look back and see this panorama. I stopped only long enough to take a quick look and spot a use trail heading down toward the edge of the bluff. I made a mental note that this might be an interesting scene to shoot in the last light of the day, and then I got back in the car and continued south.

After finishing up a final shot shortly after 4:00 I decided to head back to this location. On one hand the light didn’t look too promising, as some high clouds were thickening and moving down the coast. However, it looked to me like it might remain clearer right above the horizon – I thought there was a chance of some “surprise light” just before sunset, and it seemed like this spot might catch a bit of it. With that in mind I drove back here, loaded up my gear, and wandered out to the edge of the bluff where I found this panorama.

With or without photography, it was a spectacular spot. The large Pacific swell was coming straight in to the beach below me to the right, and bluffs and sea stacks and surf stretched back up the coastline toward the Carmel Highlands and the Point Lobos area and interesting clouds were forming above. Now all I needed was a bit of luck with that sun peeking under the clouds at last light – and for about a minute or two I got the soft, warm light I had hoped for.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: big, sur, coast, coastline, winter, season, seascape, pacific, ocean, california, usa, sea, water, surf, wave, stock, highway, one, scenic, travel, nature, bluff, rock, seastack, cloud, sky, blue, sunset, dusk, light, mountain, hill, ridge, road, horizon, evening, beach, spray, fog, mist, foam, landscape, plant, rugged

Photographs: People, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Umbrellas, Getty Center Garden

January 8, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Visitors with umbrellas walk through the Getty Center garden beneath winter trees on a foggy and rainy day.

This is – obviously – a black and white landscape orientation take on the scene in the garden at the Getty museum in Los Angeles that I posted earlier in a portrait orientation color version. The conditions were rainy and foggy – unusual, I presume, for the Getty – as several small groups of visitors carrying umbrellas wandered along the twisting and sometimes angular path through the garden below the main buildings. The light colored umbrellas are an interesting visual feature that you’ll always see when it rains at the Getty, as they loan them to visitors by the hundreds. I’m sure it is no accident that the color of the umbrellas blends well with the color of the facility.

These photos were more or less very quick shots. As I noticed the misty view of the garden the umbrella-carrying people quickly showed up on the path – much to my surprise since I figured that few people would be out there in this murky weather. Fortunately I had a zoom lens on the camera and was able to quickly frame both vertical and horizontal compositions and then shoot fairly quickly as the people passed through the scene and assembled themselves in interesting arrangements.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: getty, center, art, museum, travel, scenic, los angeles, california, usa, fog, mist, rain, shower, visitor, people, man, woman, person, umbrella, tan, garden, tree, bare, grove, grass, lawn, shrub, plant, sidewalk, walk, trail, path, building, structure, reflection, silhouette, winter, branches, stock

Photographs: People, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street, Southern California

Umbrellas, Getty Center Garden

January 6, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Umbrellas, Getty Center Garden. Los Angeles, California. December 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors walk through the garden on a rainy and foggy afternoon day at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, California.

I’m probably just about the only person who goes to the Getty Center hoping for rain… and who is regards himself as lucky when he gets rain… and fog! :-)

We were in LA during the past week to visit my daughter and our son-in-law, and we decided to stop at the Getty on the start of our return drive to the SF Bay Area. I’m always fascinated by the grounds of the Getty and by the opportunities to photograph people on those grounds, and interesting weather makes this even more appealing. On top of that my daughter had told us about the wonderful Rembrandt exhibit and I was looking forward to the Irving Penn “Small Trades” photographs on display. (It is a great exhibit – see it if you are in the area.)

I often confess that as much as I enjoy the art at the Getty, I enjoy the Getty as architecture and urban landscape just as much. Although few of my Getty photographs appear here, I very much enjoy photographing the forms and lighting of the buildings and the gardens. It was raining lightly when we arrived, and by the time we made it up the hill fog had settled on the ridge. I actually made well over 100 exposures throughout the day. Many were shot quickly as momentary conjunctions of people and light and atmosphere appeared and just as quickly disappeared. I happened to find myself on a walkway overlooking the fogged-in garden just as a couple groups of umbrella-bearing visitors encountered one another near the sharp point of this path.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: getty, center, art, museum, los angeles, california, usa, path, walk, sidewalk, people, man, woman, umbrella, tan, red, white, trees, silhouette, plant, lawn, grove, step, reflection, fog, mist, cloud, rain, shower, stock

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Autumn Leaves, Muir Woods

January 2, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Colorful late autumn leaves in the redwood forest of Muir Woods National Monument, California.

These leaves represent more or less the last gasp of autumn color at Muir Woods – the photograph was taken just a few days before the winter solstice. Although I’ve visited Muir Woods a number of times of a period of many years, during this past year I have done quite a bit of photography there, and with this series of photographs I feel like I’ve gone through a full season with the park. As I wandered through the main groves twice during the last half of December I really had a strong feeling of concluding a year of growth in the forest… and of shooting this subject. It was fitting that on this visit I saw for the first time one of the first flowers to come up as a new cycle begins, the fetid adders’ tongue and its subtle but beautiful flower. This got me thinking about and looking forward to the cycle of renewal that will soon begin again in this park.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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