Tag Archives: point lobos

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Forest, Ridge, and Haze

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Forest, Ridge, and Haze
Forest, Ridge, and Haze

Forest, Ridge, and Haze. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. October 10, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning haze mutes the details of forested coastal ridges along the California coast

Yes, yet another of the December black and white photographs — inspired by all of the black and white “challenge” posting going on right now. This photograph comes from 2010 when I made one of my frequent visits to the Point Lobos area along the California coast south of Monterey, an area that I have visited for decades. The typical focus of those visits is the shoreline itself, which is very spectacular here and which produces a wide range of moods throughout the year.

The photograph was made at Point Lobos, but much of what you see is not actually in this state park. The foreground forest is, but the high coastal hills rising beyond are outside the park. As beautiful as the ocean is, there is a lot to see if you turn your eyes in the opposite direction, too! On this morning there was high, thin cloudiness along with a great deal of backlit atmospheric haze — perhaps my favorite conditions for photographing scenes like this one! The haze glows in the backlight, and it mutes the smaller “busy” features of the landscape, allowing the larger forms to be seen more clearly… and perhaps evoking a sense of mystery.

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.

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

Blue Hour, Point Lobos

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Blue Hour, Point Lobos
Blue Hour, Point Lobos

Blue Hour, Point Lobos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. February 17, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening “blue hour” light along the Pacific Ocean shoreline at Point Lobos State Reserve

I have been visiting Point Lobos for decades, beginning when I was a young child. Point Lobos was on the circuit of parks in the greater San Francisco Bay Area that my parents regularly visited, and back in those days my elementary school even took field trips there to investigate tide pools. I have continued to visit often since that time. You would think that by now I would know every nook and cranny of this place but, as is always the case, there is still more to see and to learn about it.

For example, although I’m positive I must have seen this line of rocks extending into the surf many times over the years, it wasn’t until a few years ago that I recognized it as a potential photographic subject and even then I did not immediately see its relationship to the further shoreline. On this mid-winter (my favorite time to visit Point Lobos!) day I shot many subjects before finding myself here in the evening shortly after sunset, when the world takes on a magical and rich blue tone and ocean fog was beginning to appear over the coast.

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.

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

Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean

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Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean
Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean

Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. April 27, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sandstone shoreline rocks along the Pacific Ocean coast at Point Lobos State Reserve

I’ve been sitting on this photograph for some time, perhaps because it isn’t exactly a spectacular scene but more of a familiar and subtle one with personal connections. During a busy period earlier this spring I had not been able to find time to photograph my favorite subjects for a few weeks and I was itching to get out… so I simply headed out one morning to this familiar location.

I’ve been going to Point Lobos for decades, since I was a very young child and my family would make day trips down there. In those days we would explore rocks just like these —in fact, they may have been these very rocks — and investigate nearby tide pools. On this spring morning there were few other visitors, perhaps because of the high cloudiness that was making the day almost a bit gray and softening in the light.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Pelicans Along the Coast

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Pelicans Along the Coast
Pelicans Along the Coast

Pelicans Along the Coast. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. April 27, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A line of pelicans flies along the Point Lobos Reserve coastline

Brown pelicans are probably my favorite Pacific coast birds, and I often like to photograph them when I visit the nearby Pacific Ocean shoreline. However, that’s not at all what I was at Point Lobos to photograph on this late April morning. I was more in a landscape or seascape frame of mind. That said, this photograph is an example of how things most definitely do not happen in a slow, considered, or contemplative manner when shooting landscape subjects.

I was thinking about how to try to photograph the elements of very choppy near-shore water, the further rocks that we partially obscured by mist and spray, the subtle shadings of the offshore fog bank, and the blue tones of sky. I decided to use a long lens and try to line up something that included nearby shoreline elements juxtaposed with the more distant rocks. I wasn’t having an easy time coming up with a composition that I liked. I must have momentarily looked up from the camera, because I recall spotting this line of pelicans flying up from the south and thinking that if I could just operate fast enough I might be able to get them in the frame. Being set for landscape (manual exposure and focus, live view, small aperture, on the tripod), that meant trying to quickly and intuitively make a whole bunch of quick changes. I must have managed to do so just in time to squeeze off three frames as the line of birds passed through this gap in the rocks and continued on.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.