Tag Archives: sand

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

Beach and Rocks, Whalers Cove

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Beach and Rocks, Whalers Cove - Large rocks and a sandy beach below the bluffs at Whalers Cover, Point Lobos State Reserve.
Large rocks and a sandy beach below the bluffs at Whalers Cover, Point Lobos State Reserve.

Beach and Rocks, Whalers Cove. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. March 29, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Large rocks and a sandy beach below the bluffs at Whalers Cover, Point Lobos State Reserve.

For some reason this little vignette caught my attention when I visited Point Lobos one morning in late March. The spot is a section of the curving beach at the inside of Whalers Cove, where a bluff sits above short cliffs at the edge of the sand. This is another of those spots that I have visited for literally decades, yet never photographed. Although I have photographed nearby I don’t think I have any photographs of this little beach area at all, but I’ve been eyeing it during my last few visits.

The cove itself is an appealing spot, somewhat different from many other parts of Point Lobos. Those tend to feature quite rugged seashore, often with cliffs and rocks that run right down into the surging water of the Pacific Ocean. But this cove is doubly protected from the ocean, by being a cove and by having an entrance that does not face straight out toward the ocean. It is filled with kelp beds and is a good place to look for sea lions very close to the shore. (Several were hanging out, wrapped in kelp and lounging around, not more than a few feet from the shore.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Nature, Photographs: Utah

Trees and Cliffs, Red Rock Canyon

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Trees and Cliffs, Red Rock Canyon - Scattered trees below eroded red sandstone cliffs, Red Rock Canyon State Park, Utah.
Scattered trees below eroded red sandstone cliffs, Red Rock Canyon State Park, Utah.

Trees and Cliffs, Red Rock Canyon. Red Canyon, Utah. April 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Scattered trees below eroded red sandstone cliffs, Red Rock Canyon State Park, Utah.

During out April Utah visit we drove from Zion National Park to Moab, where we would visit Arches and Canyonlands National Park. We debated whether to take the quick and efficient route or the slow and scenic route from Zion to Moab… and of course the slow and scenic route won out. This took us on a range to sometimes-twisty two-lane highways, starting with the Mt. Carmel road through Zion, then up through the Dixie National Forest, past Red Canyon and then Zion, across the drainage of the Escalante, through part of the Capitol Reef National Park, and finally taking a long, lonely road north to highway 70. There was a lot to see along this route – too much, actually, for the single travel day we had allocated to it.

On a trip filled with surprises – this was my first visit to Utah in a long, long time, and my first time photographing there – this day was filled with more than its share. Among them was the drive up Red Canyon. Being focused on the well-known national parks and monuments I had completely overlooked this place – but it turns out to be a wildly colorful place of brilliant red cliffs and towers, many very close to the highway as it ascends the canyon. I made this photograph very close to the beginning of the red rock country as we arrived from the west.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Eureka Valley, Twilight

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Eureka Valley, Twilight - Twilight on plants and sand flats in Eureka Valley, Death Valley National Park.
Twilight on plants and sand flats in Eureka Valley, Death Valley National Park.

Eureka Valley, Twilight. Death Valley National Park, California. January 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Twilight on plants and sand flats near the edge of the dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Some might accuse me of being a bit of a contrarian with this photograph, I suppose. I made it at the base of the some very spectacular sand dunes, purportedly the tallest sand dunes in the USA – but I have the dunes to my back and the photograph doesn’t show them at all. This is also an area with very interesting and somewhat dramatic surrounding hills and ridges, but I intentionally cut the upper border of the photograph so as to not include these ridges or the sky. Speaking of the sky, I shot this just after sunset, when sky color is at its peak… but no sky here! And in a time when pumped up, saturated photographs are very common… this one goes with a very different palette, one that includes a lot of tones that are basically tan, along with some bluish color on the far mountains.

I hope that some who know places like this might understand. This is a very desolate place, and I wanted to just accept and try to photograph that. And in the early evening, when the sun has dropped behind the western hills, the blue-tone light comes on and the contrast lowers, and the colors drain from the landscape. In addition, it was cold! For me, the coloration of this scene suggests that aspect of the scene, which is perhaps not what first comes to mind when we see desert sand and plants.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People, Photographs: Southern California

Photographer, Sand Dunes, Evening

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Photographer, Transverse Dunes, Evening - A lone photographer at work among sand dunes, Death Valley National Park, California.
A lone photographer at work among sand dunes, Death Valley National Park, California.

Photographer, Sand Dunes, Evening. Death Valley National Park, California. January 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A lone photographer at work among sand dunes, Death Valley National Park, California.

This is a sort of “Where’s Waldo?” photograph – and, yes, there really is a photographer in this scene. There is not much to give you an accurate sense of the scale of the components of this scene, and there are even a few details that might throw you off. Hint: That bush near the upper left is a lot larger than you might imagine. If you look closely, I’m pretty certain that you can spot the photographer, but I won’t spoil the fun by telling you where to look.

These dunes extend over a large areas in Death Valley National Park, and I’ve come to find some of the smaller dunes of the park to present interesting relief among the closely spaced ripples and waves of sand, and late-day color variations that only get better after sunset. To make this photograph I used a long lens and found a vantage point that was elevated above the sand.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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

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.