Tag Archives: reserve

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

Cliffside Trees, Fog

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Cliffside Trees, Fog, Point Lobos
“Cliffside Trees, Fog” — Monterey cypress trees line the rocky edges of the north shore of Point Lobos on a foggy morning.

This is another in this week’s series of photographs from a recent foggy morning at Point Lobos State Reserve, a favorite location where I have photographed for decades. I live a bit more than an hour away, so I can watch the weather and head over there almost at the spur of the moment when conditions look good. And the conditions on this morning were excellent, with the fog being both persistent and often translucent.

Tall cliffs tower above rugged peninsulas, rocky promontories, and coves along the north shore. This is one of the best locations to see Monterey cypress trees that have been challenged and bent by the rocky terrain and the wind. Many of the trees in this photograph grow at the edge of the land and subsist on little more than the thin soil collected in cracks in the rock.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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

The Old Cypress

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The Old Cypress
A gnarled old Monterey cypress, Point Lobos State Reserve.

The Old Cypress. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A gnarled old Monterey cypress, Point Lobos State Reserve.

After sufficient decades wandering about in favorite parts of the natural world, I have become personal friends with a few rocks, trees, creeks, and other features in various places. I’m not sure that there’s much logic to which ones caught my attention, and you might pass by quite a few of them without noticing. They could be spots where I first saw something in a particular way, a tree that sheltered me as I waited out a rain shower, a place where I spread out my sleeping bag, a scene where I have paused for years, or almost anything.

This Monterey cypress tree is on that list. It is visible from a short, dead-end spur trail at Point Lobos, and these days you have to duck under low trees and watch out for poison oak as you approach. The tree is on the other side of a little valley at the end of a small cove, and it clings to rocks near the top of a cliff. It teases me by being a bit difficult to photograph. In the best location there isn’t really enough space to set up a tripod, at least not if you want to avoid the poison oak. And just beyond the tree lies a trail, and inevitably a large party passes by at just the moment when I want to make an exposure.

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

Trees and Promontory

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Trees and Promontory
Windswept Monterey cypress trees atop a rocky promontory, Point Lobos State Reserve.

Trees and Promontory. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Windswept Monterey cypress trees atop a rocky promontory, Point Lobos State Reserve.

This was just about a perfect visit to an old favorite location, Point Lobos State Reserve, located on the Pacific Coast between Carmel and the upper reaches of the Big Sur region. Back home in the San Francisco Bay Area it was another 90+ degree blue-sky day,, but fog blanketed this coastal area, periodically thinning just enough to allow some directional light on the landscape.

This can be a very busy and often overcrowded park, but by going on a weekday and arriving very early I can avoid the worst of it, and even in the summer it is possible to. find morning solitude here. These windswept Monterey cypress trees grow at the edge of the Pacific Ocean where the moist fog sweeps in. The largest tree in this scene manages to survive perched atop this rocky promontory.

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 | Twitter | 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.

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

Coastal Rocks

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Coastal Rocks
Rugged and fractured rocks on the California Pacific Ocean coast.

Coastal Rocks. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Rugged and fractured rocks on the California Pacific Ocean coast.

If you have been following along recent youly have likely figured out by now that I was fascinated by this formation at Point Lobos State Reserve. In fact, I was so fascinated by it that I not only turned my attention away from the larger landscape, but I ended up photographing this these rocks from three different angles and positions.

I got up close for this version, setting up the camera just in front of the subject and angling the camera slightly upwards. I found the large patterns of fractured rock interesting, but I also liked some of the smaller features that require a closer look — the odd dimpling effect on the surface of the rock, the bits and pieces of ocean life, and so on. The soft light coming through a deck of coastal clouds helped reveal some of these details.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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