Tag Archives: sea

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

Fog, Mist, Ocean, and Sky

July 3, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Looking westward toward the Pacific Ocean horizon and dissipating fog

I have something of an obsession with views to the west from the California coast, especially those in which details gradually fade toward and a distant and indistinct horizon. As a person whose family moved to this state when I was very young, and the son of a father who gradually worked his way west from New York through the midwest and the west to finally arrive on this coast, there is still, no doubt, at least a remnant of whatever it was that moved Americans across a continent — to arrive at its edge and look east to the unknown.

Minimalist Pacific Ocean views like this one have long intrigued me, especially when the light is extremely bright, to the point that the atmosphere glows so brightly that it almost hurts to look into it. This was an interesting day, one on which I escaped the hot inland weather to drive down the coast, where the fog was never far away. Here, at a spot high above the water, only thin remnants of the fog were present, along with a soft haze just above the water leading to a fog bank far off shore.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Surf, Bluff, Sea Stacks

May 15, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Surf, a steep bluff, and sea stacks lead toward a foggy horizon, Big Sur Coast

I sometimes forget how long this coast has been a part of my consciousness, but a visit or two quickly remind me. I have lived in the San Francisco Bay area since I was four-years-old. Weekend and summer visits to the Monterey Bay beaches and the tide pools of Point Lobos were regular events, and the effect of those visits remains all these years later — and all it takes is a quick visit to remind me of what it means to live this close to the Pacific Ocean.

On this first day of May I made a morning visit to the upper Big Sur coast, getting to some of the best parts before the inevitable weekend crowds arrived. It was a beautiful day, at first looking like it might turn out to be “yet another blue sky day,” but soon becoming more interesting, at least from the photographic point of view, as thin fog began to form just about the meeting of the ocean and land. When I made this photograph looking south down the coastline, it was still early enough that the bluffs and coastal mountains cast shadows along the surf line.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Napping Elephant Seals

August 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A crowd of elephant seals napping on the beach near Point Piedras Blancas

This is (yet another!) photograph of elephant seals lolling about on the beach near Point Piedras Blancas just south of the Big Sur coastline. This location is well-known for providing easy access to viewing of these remarkable animals. They are found in many other locations along the coast now that their numbers have recovered, but in most places access is much more difficult. Here there is an “elephant seal nursery” mere feet for the Pacific Coast Highway, with short observation trails that give good views of the action and which protect both the seals and the human visitors.

I visited a bit earlier in this season when the pups were still rather small. This visit was almost an afterthought — after a morning of photographing landscapes and seascapes along the Big Sur coast I found myself at the southern end of this area with a few hours to kill in midday light, so I decided to drive a bit further and visit the seals. There were not nearly as many there at this later point in the season, but there were still plenty for me to make photographs. Images of the animals lying almost motionless on the sand not only evoke our own pleasant thoughts of doing the same thing (!) but they can also create a false impression that the lives of these creatures are lives of ease. In fact, the reality seems quite a bit different. In contrast to what seems like a life as a big chunk of sleeping blubber, these animals become quite sleek and graceful once in the water — where I understand that they have to be on the lookout in order to avoid become a snack for a great white shark!

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: Ocean & Coast

Rocky Beach, Cove, and Fog

July 25, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A rocky beach and cove on a foggy summer morning along the Big Sur coast

On July 4 (of all days!) I headed out rather early so that I could make it to the upper Big Sur coastline before the tourist traffic arrived. I succeeded, and there were very few people when I arrived on the foggy coast and drove slowly south while looking for photographs. It being a major holiday, within a few hours the Pacific Coast Highway was filled with visitors, and I turned around and headed back home.

I like several things about this photograph, and most of them have to do with the fact that, in many ways, there is little all that special about the scene. I’m not sure that I could even find this particular cove again, at least not without some careful searching — this coastline is almost a continuum of such places, and almost anywhere you stop and look around a bit you can find such scenes. The fog is another typical element, especially in the summer months, when many visitors are surprised to find that the beautiful sunny scenes that they have seen in photographs are the exception rather than the rule. A typical summer morning in this region? Fog! To many of us Californians, however, this is part of the appeal. On a day when only a few miles inland the temperatures were well into the ninety degree range and perhaps higher, along this coastline I could enjoy the welcome and cool and damp of the coastal fog.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sea

Fog, Mist, Ocean, and Sky

Surf, Bluff, Sea Stacks

Rocky Beach, Cove, and Fog

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