Tag Archives: reserve

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Harbor Seals

September 21, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A group of harbor seals hauled out on a beach at Point Lobos State Reserve

When I was very young, shortly after my parents moved the family from Minnesota to the San Francisco Bay Area of California, we used to periodically visit Point Lobos on the Monterey Peninsula, located at the very upper boundary of what some call the Big Sur coast. We were fascinated by the ocean itself and by the strange life we could find in the tide pools, by the birds on “bird island,” and by the rugged cliffs. I especially remember one small and pristine beach we often visited, in a very narrow cove and accessed by a steep stairway. I also recall that there were “seals,” but I don’t remember seeing a lot of them — somehow they weren’t really on my radar.

I have continued to visit Point Lobos for decades now, and I eventually became more away for the marine mammals that frequent the place. I learned where they hand out, and I found certain overlooks from which I could observe them. I figured out that not only had I been less than aware of these creatures, but that they come in colors! I have no idea how I missed that, but I recall the it may only have been a decade ago when I understood that the harbor seals are really quite beautiful — as you can see in this photograph, their mottled fur ranges from black to white-tan to somewhat blue. On a recent winter visit I found that little beach my family visited was now closed, and that a large group of these animals had made it their own.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Coastal Forest, Fog

August 10, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fog obscures a coastal forest at Point Lobos State Reserve

Many people who don’t know the California coast imagine it to be a warm and sunny place. It can be, but often it is actually foggy and damp and cold — and not a place where you’d want to lie on your towel trying to work on your tan! That iconic sunny weather does occur, especially if you go farther south, but the cold and foggy weather is more typical. Surprisingly, I much prefer the cool and foggy to the clear and sunny, and I don’t think I’m the only photographer who would rather see almost any conditions other than blue sky clear days.

On this January day I headed over to Point Lobos after hearing that there would be both clouds and big surf. In many places in this part of California the coastal hills drop precipitously and directly (or nearly so) straight into the ocean. Here at Point Lobos there is an area of flat, forested headland between the ocean and the mountains, but right behind the park the mountains do rise in layers, and on a day like this one the details of the successively higher ridges often disappear into the fog.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Winter Surf, Mountains

August 6, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Powerful winter surf washes over rocks at Point Lobos.

I have gone to Point Lobos for decades, beginning when I was a child and my family would visit. I especially remember exploring the accessible tide pools. Today I especially like to go there on foggy days or in the winter, when the raw power of the Pacific Ocean is most visible, with winter storms churning up huge surf.

It was on such a day that I visited last January — in fact, reports of high surf were almost certainly what made me decide to visit that day. Because this coastline faces west, in the morning the coastal hills, being to the east, are often in shadow. To make this photograph I found an outcropping from which I could look back to the southwest toward the shore and juxtapose the rear of a huge wave washing over offshore rocks with the dark and ominous face of the mountains rising behind in shadow.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Goose-Filled Dawn Sky

January 5, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Geese fill the winter dawn sky above a San Joaquin Valley marsh

This is another photograph from our New Year’s Day visit to the migratory birds of California’s San Joaquin Valley. A group of us, photographers and painters and friends, made a rendezvous in the pre-dawn darkness. We were surprised to hear almost no birds in this place, where more typically we are greeted by the sounds of many thousands of them as soon as we get out of our cars. Eventually we found geese at a nearby set of ponds along the roadway.

The number of geese seemed to have diminished since my last visit a few weeks earlier, but before long groups of them began to arrive, mostly flying in from a southerly direction before setting down on the ponds. Eventually the crowd reached a more typical size, with thousands of the birds in a large flock. And, predictably, at some point something set them off, and almost all of them took to the air at once, in a swirling cloud of honking and squawking, and they flew a few circles above the ponds before heading off to more distant points.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: reserve

Harbor Seals

Coastal Forest, Fog

Winter Surf, Mountains

Goose-Filled Dawn Sky

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