A yellow light industrial building with black windows with a red and white “For Lease” sign, San Jose, California.
Number 3 in the News Day photo-walk series, and this one is perhaps the brightest and most intensely colored of the bunch. This light industrial building has apparently been deserted for a while and it is currently for lease. This bright yellow corrugated metal structure is right across the street from the intense green building from which the previous-posted photography came.
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.
Black and white photograph of winter surf and rugged cliffs and rocks along California’s Big Sur coastline at the Rocky Creek Bridge.
I have photographed this scene before, so it was on my list of places to check out as I drove down the Big Sur coast on the second day of the new year. When I arrived I found very different lighting from that in the linked photograph – that one was shot in the morning with back-light and heavier mist. On this afternoon the surf was big (but not huge) and some mist was being thrown up by the waves, but the late afternoon light more clearly illuminated the rocks and the bridge. I also found a slightly better spot for seeing the natural arch in the foreground rocks. The only difficulty was that a herd of cattle was grazing on the top of the bluff right in front of this scene, and I had to wait for them to move before I could shoot – they were obstructing the arch!
I first thought this would be a color photograph, but the more I worked on it the more I liked the monochrome rendition. To me it seems to take the focus away from the colors and force it more towards the abstract and overlapping forms of the rocks, surf, bridge, and hill beyond.
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.
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.
Black and white photograph of morning light on coastal cliffs and beaches near the Point Bonita Lighthouse in the Marin Headlands with the Pacific Ocean beyond – Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
This photograph represents another “stop the car, back up, and shoot this now!” moments – the second one during a single weekend.
I had taken a long day to photograph north of San Francisco, ostensibly with the excuse of having to meet someone in the City that evening – heck, might as well leave early and spend the day shooting, right? I had only vague plans to head across the Golden Gate Bridge when I started out that morning, but I stopped near the north end and headed up into the Marin Headlands when I saw some pretty special lighting and atmospheric conditions over the Bay. After shooting that general subject (including photos of the Bridge, the Bay, and the City posted earlier and still to come) I drove on up the road and then out toward Point Bonita.
The last part of this road is a narrow, twisty one-way drive high on the coastal hills above the outer reaches of the Golden Gate. As I came around one turn the view opened up and I saw – for the first time, though I’ve been here before – this great view of Point Bonita and the Pacific. I quickly stopped, set up, and made a few exposures.
The Point Bonita area is an interesting one. All along this section of the Marin Headlands are found old forts and artillery sites, supposedly to protect the Bay from invasion by sea. There is no longer a military presence here – this is now part of the Golden Gate Recreation Area, but many of the historic sites remain. Point Bonita itself is the site of a lighthouse at the north edge of the entrance to San Francisco Bay. It is a wild place. Not only it is in a spectacular location of tall coastal bluffs and steep cliffs that is fully open to the power of the Pacific, but the lighthouse itself is on a small island set slightly apart from the main landmass. The only way to get to it is to walk a trail along the steep cliffs – which passes through a tunnel at one point – then cross the top of the low bluff, and then walk the bridge to the small island.
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.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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