Tag Archives: rocks

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Lake Shore, Autumn Bilberry

September 29, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A harbinger of Sierra Nevada autumn, red bilberry plants carpet the shoreline of a sub-alpine lake

This photograph evokes, for me, that special feeling of the end of summer in the high country, when the awareness of the changing seasons is heightened and there is an odd combination of relaxation as the pace of mountain life slows and a feeling that the time of year when access to such places is easy is rapidly coming to an end — and that in a matter of weeks places like this one will be snow-covered and largely inaccessible for another year. It is also a time, perhaps for these very reasons, when the recognition of the natural cycles of seasons and lives becomes more acute.

The red carpet on the close ground along the shoreline consists of small bilberry plants. This small plant is normally easy to overlook. It stands perhaps an inch tall, often in clusters in clear areas along lakes and among trees. During the summer it is, frankly, just another little green thing among many. But in September it transforms into something that you cannot help noticing, especially if you look across a patch into the sun — backlit bilberry suddenly becomes flaming red. Beyond the near shore, trees scattered along a rocky peninsula and small islands catch the last warm and soft light of an “almost-autumn” evening.

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

Rugged Coastline, Fog

August 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning fog clears from mountains above Soberanes Canyon along the rugged Big Sur coastline

This may be a familiar scene to people who are familiar with the upper section of California’s Big Sur coast below Monterey, where steep coastal mountains drop to the shoreline and where the climate oscillates on the boundary between sun and fog. This time I visited on a day when it was hot inland on the other side of the coastal mountains — it was perhaps 30 degrees color on the ocean side.

The scene is in a very specific area close to Soberanes Canyon, but it exemplifies scenes that can be found all along this spectacular coastline. Soberanes Canyon is a popular stopping place, with access to the ocean and to trails up into the steep canyon which extends to the left below the fog-shrouded summit near the top of this photograph. This section of the shoreline is not as high as some other sections in the area, but it is extremely rugged, with a steep, rocky bluff and scores of rocky sea stacks.

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

Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean

June 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Spring Oaks, Sierra Foothills

May 17, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Spring oak trees and meadows, Sierra Nevada foothills

In this drought year Tioga Pass, the trans-Sierra route through Yosemite National Park, opened earlier than usual. For me, the opening of this pass marks the end of the winter season and the beginning of the summer, with its easier access to the high country. Virtually every year I mark this event by visiting the Yosemite high country on the opening day or as close to it as possible. This year’s early May opening fell on a busy weekend, so I couldn’t be there on the actual opening day, but two days later I was able to squeeze in a one-day up-and-back trip from the San Francisco Bay Area.

I was up way before dawn and on the road before 4:00 AM. During the winter months such a start time would get me into the Sierra for dawn photography, but with the longer days at this time of year the sun rose when I was still in the foothills. While many might regard the foothill terrain as something to pass through on the way to the more interesting goal, I have come to love the soft, curving foothills, with their covering of grasses (green at this time of year, but brown to golden most of the time) and oak trees, either standing individually or as part of large oak forests. When I came to this spot, where I have stopped to photograph before, I found the meadows in that transitional state between the remaining greens of this year’s (meager) spring moisture and browns of California’s summer.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: rocks

Lake Shore, Autumn Bilberry

Rugged Coastline, Fog

Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean

Spring Oaks, Sierra Foothills

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