Low fog and spray from surf mute the morning view of coastal rocks and bluffs along the rugged California coastline
This photograph was made on a beautiful early spring morning along the Pacific Coast Highway in the upper section of the Big Sur area, just below Carmel. On many days when the weather is nice elsewhere in California, fog covers the coastline – but on this morning the fog was barely there and the morning sun came across the summit of the coastal mountains to shine down into the very thin coastal mist. To my surprise, winter having ended so recently, I found myself shooting in shirtsleeves!
This is a particular spot that I return to quite often since I live close enough to this area to visit frequently. A few years ago I made some photographs of a fisherman sitting on a rock above astonishingly wild surf. I recalled the general area where I made the shot, but I hadn’t made an effort to remember the exact location, so I was surprised when I looked at this scene more closely and realized that this is the exact spot from which I shot, give or a take a few feet of walking along the coastal bluffs.
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
The Colorado River winds through rugged country beyond the White Rim, Canyonlands National Park
On our second visit to Canyonlands National Park (the first had been back in April of the same year, when we briefly visited the “Island in the Sky” highlands of the park) we were somewhat stymied by less than astonishing light. Overall the skies were sort of partly cloudy, but that “partly” portion seemed to line up almost perfectly with where we were, and from afternoon on a large mass of clouds sat above us and to the west. For this photograph, that might have actually been a bit of a blessing, in that trying to photograph the tremendously intricate and detailed landscape visible from the “Grand View” overlook in full sun at this time of day would have been challenging, to say the least. This landscape, lit that way, would have contained some extremely bright features along with very deep shadows in the canyons, and the result probably would not have been all that great. The clouds, however, somewhat mute the contrasty light, making the bright areas a bit less bright and allowing diffused light down into areas that would otherwise be dark. At least there was a bit of light on the buttes in the far distance at the upper edge of the frame.
This scene is one of those “iconic” views that, well, everyone photographs. Generally, I’m not that much about photographing icons. In fact, often when I go to places like this I try to not know what the iconic shots are or where to find them, preferring to instead just sort of guess, follow hunches, poke around, and see what I discover. This may not be the most effective way to find the “cool stuff” in a new location, but it does let me start to develop my own relationship with a landscape from the very beginning. So when we went into Canyonlands the first time I basically had almost no idea what I was “supposed” to see and photograph. (For example, I had no idea that iconic “Mesa Arch” is in this park – drove past the road to it and said, “Ah, that’s where Mesa Arch is!” And, no, I did not photograph it.) However, as we wandered about and looked at stuff, we somehow managed to end up at several of “those places” – especially the Green River overlook (which I now recognize as one of the iconic views of this park) and Grand View. In addition, I’ve often advised others to not eschew icons in certain situations. One, of course, is when you find yourself in front of such an icon and have never photographed it before. But another is when one visits a location for the first time and does not yet have a deeper knowledge of the place. For example, I’ll occasionally get asked by first time visitors to Yosemite or Death Valley (places where I shoot a lot) about where the “secret spots” are that not everyone shoots. I tell them that getting to know a place to such an extent that you can find, “see,” understand and photograph the non-iconic subjects is not a reasonable goal for a first visit. Often that takes many visits, perhaps in different seasons, and the time to let the place “get under your skin” to the point that you have a real feel for it.* But everyone has to start somewhere, and photographing icons is a fine place to start when you are new to a place. They are, after all, usually quite spectacular spots – as I say, “They are icons for a reason.”
*For my part, during my first year photographing in Utah I spent over 30 days there during three long visits. It wasn’t until well into the third visit that I really began to feel that I was moving past the “Oh, wow, Utah!” state and starting to really understand the place.
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
Late afternoon light on a rocky beach near Pescadero, California
Last week I finally was able to get out and do a bit of landscape photography along the California coast south of San Francisco. (Various other obligations and activities have minimized time in the field recently, and may continue to do so for a few more weeks – but then… lots of time “in the field!”) This area is one of my quickest “gotta get out and shoot” locations, as I can be there in less than an hour, and “there” is one of the most spectacular coastlines I can imagine, ranging from calm and peaceful to towering cliffs and raging surf.
On this visit, things were relatively quiet – nothing like the winter surf of a few months ago. My hope was to find a coastal location in that border zone between fog and sunlight, where interesting and variable things can often happen with light. Starting from the Santa Cruz area, where it was almost perfectly clear, we headed north while keeping a watch on the fog bank hanging just off shore and appearing to get closer to the coast to the north. Eventually, near the Pigeon Point lighthouse, it looked like we might get to the point where the fog and the coast converged, but as soon as we arrived the fog pulled back a bit. In this late afternoon photograph, the sun was low enough that its light was beginning to be somewhat softened and warmed by passing through the thin layer of mist and fog.
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
Huge winter surf breaks over rocky coastal islands along California’ Big Sur Coastline.
In mid-January waves of stupendous size came ashore along the California coastline, as they do at times every winter. The surf was caused by storms, but not storms that were at all visible here in California, where this was an unusually warm and sunny weekend, with clear skies and temperatures (in January!) in the low seventy degree range. As I understand it, the source of the large waves was a big Pacific storm far to the north, in the region of the Aleutian Islands, which was sending huge swells thousands of miles toward our coastline.
The news reports were making a big deal of so-called “sneaker waves” – huge waves that seemingly appear unexpectedly and sometimes wash over areas that might seem safe. Sometimes the reports overdo this sort of thing, but the warnings are justified, and this was especially the case during this occurrence. We were even surprised a bit ourselves. When we finally made it to this area along the Big Sur coast that is open to the ocean, we expected to see huge surf, but when we pulled over and looked it didn’t seem like anything all that extraordinary was happening. Yes, there were waves, but nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. However, as we grabbed gear and tripods and walked to an overlook on a bluff above the water a series of truly huge waves began to come ashore. It turns out that this pattern alternates periods of smaller waves with periodic intervals of much larger waves, and we certainly saw abundant evidence as gigantic waves completely overwhelmed these rocky offshore islands before continuing on to hit the shoreline and wash far up the beaches.
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
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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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.
