Tag Archives: point lobos

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Forest and Fog

Image January 22, 2021 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunlight begins to thin the morning fog in a Monterey Peninsula forest.

Today we visit the California coast below the Monterey Peninsula, at the Point Lobos State Reserve. (That is the actual name, though many of us casually refer to it as a state “park.”) I have gone to this place for decades, since my parents took us there as kids. Back then the big attractions were the tide pools (the number one attraction!), the various sea mammals, and the surf. Those are still on my list when I go there, though now I’m more likely to go with the goal of making photographs. (The place, like so much of the Big Sur coast, has become almost impossibly popular, so I try to visit at odd, off-peak times.)

I had gone down there on this 2013 early spring day to make photographs. My typical routine is to arrive very early, before those crowds show up, and spend a few hours photographing in relative quiet. This time I headed to a location in the more northerly portion of the small preserve, where there are views back across the coastal forests and toward the low hills to the east. Because it was morning, the sun was coming over those hills just as the fog was starting to then, allowing a bit more light into the gaps between the trees.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Trees, Bluffs, Whalers Cove

August 9, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The view across Whalers cove toward tree-covered coastal bluffs and hills

Point Lobos is the small but beautiful (and often quite over-crowded) state “reserve” located just below Carmel, California at the base of the Monterey Peninsula. I’ve gone there for decades, beginning when I was a child, and I continue to visit, explore, and photograph. These days I’m more likely to go during off-season times, or at least on odd days and at odd hours during the peak tourist season. I made this photograph on a weekday morning, before the tourist traffic built up and on a day when foggy conditions may have discouraged some visitors.

The photograph looks across Whalers Cove, a sheltered inlet along the northern edge of the park which opens toward the shallow bay around the outlet of the Carmel River. Beyond the rocky bluffs immediately above the smooth, kelp-filled waters of the bay forested coastal hills rise. The building is a monastery that gives a nearby beach its name.

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

Whalers Cabin, Point Lobos

August 6, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hidden behind a grove of trees, the Whalers Cabin sits on a bluff above Whalers Cove at Point Lobos

For may years I have visiting Point Lobos, the increasingly popular (and sometimes over-run) California coastal reserve along the Pacific Coast just south of Carmel. Decades ago my family visited when I was a child — I recall picnicking there, but most of all I remember exploring the tide pools and descending a steep old trail to a small beach that is now closed. While I knew limited areas of the reserve very well, there were other sections that I simply never visited: some of the forest trails, a few areas close to Monastery Beach and others.

One of the places that, oddly, I never visited was the little “Whalers Cabin” set back on the bluff above Whalers Cove, a sheltered and often placid bay that is protected from the surf of the open ocean. I visited the cove, and I’ve photographed there in the past, but I always went right past the cabin without stopping. This summer I finally stopped in and looked around a bit. As I understand it, whalers may have used the place, but so did fisherman. Today it is a small museum, and (as far as I know) the only very old historic structure still remaining in the park.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

North Shore, Fog

July 28, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A foggy morning along the north shore cliffs of Point Lobos

In mid-July I managed to get to Point Lobos State Reserve, south of Carmel, on two occasions during the same week. It stayed foggy the entire time on the first visit, but on the second it began to clear back from the coast by mid-morning, and fog-softened light was present here as I walked along the north shore of the park. (Oddly, it was foggy inland as the area right along the coast began to clear.)

The photograph appears to show a clear view across water and into a cove where with steep rocks and tall trees at its head. In fact, my shooting position is quite covered with trees, and it was a bit of a trick to find a spot with a clear view like this. At the point at which I made the photograph the fog was still there, though it was beginning to thin a bit, and some soft light was beginning to make its way through the murk.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: point lobos

Forest and Fog

Trees, Bluffs, Whalers Cove

Whalers Cabin, Point Lobos

North Shore, Fog

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