Tag Archives: rugged

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

Little Sur River, Pacific Ocean

January 24, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Little Sur River meets the Pacific ocean along the Big Sur coastline of California in evening light

On this weekend near the middle of January, the local news and weather reports announced the arrival of very large winter surf along the central and northern California coast. This typically happens a few times every winter, when very distant storms far to the north in the Pacific Ocean near the Aleutian Islands send huge swells south towards California. For those whose experience with the California coast has mainly been to experience the usually gentle surf on summer, these waves can be stunning. When I heard about these conditions I knew I had to make it over to the coast. The setup this weekend was special in another way – the period between large waves was rather long and the larger sets of waves were separated by many minutes. We saw this process in action when we first arrived to find what looked like surprisingly calm seas, with only rather normal looking waves. But within minutes a set of the larger waves began to come ashore and we were astounded at their size and power.

This weekend was doubly special. Not only was the monumental winter surf running, but we had a spell of that weather than can make people from other places envy Californians! We went south from Monterey and into the upper reaches of the Big Sur coastline, where it was beautifully sunny and close to 70 degrees! (For those who think this is actually typical… not quite! In the summer this area is often blanketed by thick fog for days on end.) The waves and the weather drew thousands to the shoreline, and I can’t recall the last time I saw so many people along the coast highway. We joined them and made quite a few photographs during the afternoon hours. At the same time I was scoping out possible locations for that final golden-hour photograph. As the end of the day approached we were very close to Big Sur itself, and I remembered stopping at this spot a bit earlier in the day and thinking about how to compose a photograph of the peninsula separating the curving Little Sur River from the steep cliffs and ocean beyond.

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

Davenport Bluffs, Sunset

January 15, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

The last light shines on coastal bluffs and Davenport, California

On this early December day I had gone off to try to join a G+ “photowalk” that was purportedly taking place that day. I was looking forward to going to a few favorite local photography locations and to meeting some people who I’ve only known online. But it was not to be! I ended up being delayed at home and couldn’t leave in time to meet the group at their first location, Henry Cowell Park. I went with Plan B and figured I would try to join up with them at lunch in Davenport. I got there and didn’t see anyone, so I figured that I was early and I drove up the coast a bit. I came back to Davenport and thought they might be in one of the two restaurants, so I picked one and went in for lunch… by myself. (I found out later that, yes, they were in the other restaurant a hundred yards south.) After lunch I went across the road to the parking area when I thought folks might meet up, but still no luck – though I did see a few photographers out on the nearby bluff. I headed out there and finally ran into a couple of people from the group… which had gone down to a nearby beach area to shoot.

Finding interesting stuff up here on the bluff, I decide to work the location I found myself in rather than heading off and looking for something else. While the location was interesting, the light was initially unpromising. However, I thought there was a chance that things might improve later so I walked around and began doing some shooting. At one point, I talked to some other photographers about the somewhat bland lighting conditions and pointed out that it seemed to me that there was at least a chance that we might get a bit of interesting light as the sun dropped to the horizon, when the light can sometimes shine in below the clouds and produce some brief but beautiful conditions. This prediction turned out to be right, and I made this photograph just as the show was beginning, and warm-tone light was starting to hit the bluffs, beaches, and water.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Trees and Red Rock, High Country

December 18, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Backlit trees in a high country terrain of rugged red rock sandstone, Zion National Park

Since this has been a recurring theme in my photographs from Zion National Park in October, I think I’ll keep the commentary a bit short on this one. I made the photograph along the Mount Carmel Highway, which passes through high country along an east-west route though the park. We had a day here while on our way to our eventual destination to the east, so we decided to focus on this high country area, with its deep washes and slot canyons, autumn colors, and rounded forms of various types of layered sandstone.

In this area the sandstone was a sort of medium red – not as intense as some of the deeper strata nor as light as some of the nearly white rocks found elsewhere. This rock was finely layered in many places, and formed into a small world of ridges and domes covered with widely spaced trees. I photographed the scene in afternoon light, when the sun was shining from behind the trees and creating a sort of halo of light for each one. Because of the backlight, a bit of atmospheric haze is present and the underlying rocks take on a deeper tone. Every so often a friend of fellow photographer might refer to something they call “G Dan light,” and this is it – the light of backlit trees, photographed by shooting almost directly into the sun, with just a bit of haze.

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

Coastal Bluffs in Sunset Light

December 11, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 5 Comments

Sunset light momentarily illuminates coastal bluffs near Davenport, California

This photograph or one very much equivalent to it might have been made in any of perhaps thousands of locations along the California coastline, given the right time of year, the right atmospheric conditions, and the right light. With just a bit of looking around, these views from promontory bluffs, looking down the coastline past a series of other rugged bluffs are characteristic of the area. This spot happens to be near the small coastal town of Davenport, California just north of Santa Cruz.

The photograph illustrates one thing about my orientation to photographing the coast line and also illustrates something about light. About the coastline… my favorite times of the year on the coast are not the typical peak tourist season times, but instead are during the late fall through early spring period. Not only is coastal fog much less likely – though still possible! – but the ocean is more interesting and variable under the influence of winter weather, the potential for interesting skies is greater, and the generally lower-angle light creates all sorts of interesting possibilities. The clouds in this photograph, which glow just a bit in the momentary sunset light, are from a weak weather front that passed over during this afternoon along the coast. That weather front leads to my second point about light, which I’ll get to by way of telling part of the story of this afternoon’s photography. When I arrived at this location near the middle of the day, the light seemed very, very unpromising. It wasn’t just the usual nature of midday light, but there was a sort of bland haze in the air, and a shield of approaching clouds was coming down from the north – and as the afternoon wore on it became clear that those thick clouds were going to end up in front of the sun in the late afternoon.

However, sometimes the easiest and most predictable light is the least interesting to shoot in, and the least predictable and sometimes least-promising light can occasionally produce momentary wonders if you watch and are ready for them – or just have enough dumb luck to arrive at the right instant! (On the other hand, you can also watch and wait and, in the end, get… nothing. It goes with the territory!) In this case, I thought about two things. First, I thought about how I could photograph this “boring” light. The way I look at it, I’m there because the place, the circumstances, and the time are interesting – in which case there must be some way to produce a photograph in those conditions that reflect that. But that’s not my point with this particular photograph. The point that this one so nicely illustrates has to do with that possibility of momentary light on a day that seems unpromising. I ran into a couple of other photographers on the bluff during the “blah light” period. I wasn’t making photographs at that point, instead mostly just looking around. We talked briefly about the currently uninspiring light, but I pointed out that I thought I could see an edge to the cloud shield far off-shore, and if I was right there just might be a brief moment of special light as the sun passed below that edge and before it reached the horizon. Sure enough, with just a few minutes left before sunset, the sun dropped below the clouds and an intense band of extremely warm light began to suffuse the coastline against the backdrop of gray higher clouds. It lasted for only a minute or two, but that light was worth the wait.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: rugged

Little Sur River, Pacific Ocean

Davenport Bluffs, Sunset

Trees and Red Rock, High Country

Coastal Bluffs in Sunset Light

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