Tag Archives: sea

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Elephant Seals – Mother and Pup

February 13, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A dark elephant seal pup rests its head on its lighter-colored mother.

I first visited this popular elephant seal calving area a few years back when I took a detour on a trip back from Southern California. I was familiar with the elephant seals of northern California, but I had not realized that they were in the south as well, so I was surprised when I came upon this place which has been set up as an observation station where visitors can watch a beach full of these immense creatures close-up. As I understand the outlines of the story, their numbers had decreased to very low levels until they were protected a few decades ago. Since then the population has rebounded. Each year when I visit this location it seems like I see more of them, and they are now starting to show up on other nearby beaches.

These animals are wild and tough creatures. They spend large parts of their lives in the ocean where they are apparently graceful creatures. On land, where they are found here, they can appear to be lazy and awkward and almost humorous at times. At this location in the winter, they mostly seem to lie on the sand – where they are no doubt safe from large off-shore predators – as they raise their pups. From what I read, the females come ashore and then do not eat during the period when they nurse their pups to weights of a few hundred pounds! The herd produces a wild cacophony of sounds that I do not have the vocabulary to fully describe – cries, screams, roars, and the deep and mechanical sound of the large males. Occasional fights erupt, especially a bit later in the season as the males battle for dominance. But if you look around in this mass of seal flesh, you can spot some vignettes that seem somewhere between funny and cute. This small back pup had lifted its head up so that could rest it on the back of the larger and lighter colored elephant seal, which I presume to be its mother.

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

Sunset Light, Big Sur

February 10, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter sunset light on the rugged Big Sur coastline

On the final day of January we took a long drive down and then back up the Pacific Coast Highway between the Monterey Peninsula and Piedras Blancas, where we knew we could see and photograph the elephant seals that gather here on the coast every winter. We took our time on the southward drive, taking nearly nine hours to reach our southern destination – and stopping frequently along the way to make photographs. (OK, for coffee and meals, too…) After photographing the elephant seals in the late afternoon, it was time to start our return trip.

There is so much to see along this coast that it is unusual to be left wondering what to photograph, so the general – and somewhat vague – plan was to take stock of where we found ourselves during the hour or so before sunset and to then find a suitable golden hour and dusk subject to photograph. Perhaps 45 or 50 minutes before sunset we came to an overlook where we had photographed much earlier in the day and decided that this would be the place. Here the coastline arcs south, with rugged mountains dropping right down to the shoreline with its sea stacks, rocky prominences, and hidden beaches. Our overlook was high enough to provide an expansive view of this scene, and it didn’t hurt that a couple of large rocky islands, one with a natural arch, were located right below. You never know how a sunset and evening will turn out in photographic terms and you must more or less take what you get. On the plus side, there were thin, high clouds to the west that wrapped around to the south, and these clouds can produce a lot of color if lit from below right at sunset and shortly after. There was also some haze to the west to soften the light. On the other hand, there also appeared to be a somewhat thicker band of clouds and for right near the horizon, and this can “turn the lights out” at just the wrong moment. I made this photograph as the golden hour light began to intensely color the shoreline. I quickly made a series of photographs in landscape and portrait orientation, moving a bit in between to change the juxtaposition of elements a bit. At one point I looked away for a moment… and when I looked back the color had almost gone as the sun passed behind those thicker clouds. Yes, it happens that quickly and imperceptibly sometimes.

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

Sea Stacks, Big Sur Coastline

February 3, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The receding ridges of the Big Sur coastline arc southward into winter haze beyond a pair of large sea stacks.

On the final day of January we did the “down and back” drive through the Big Sur area of California’s Pacific Coast Highway. This is my favorite time of year in this part of California. At one point along the drive I made a comment (as I often do while passing through here at this time of year) about how this weather felt more like a “typical summer day” than like a “typical winter day” – and then I quickly caught myself and recalled that “typical summer days” here often feature thick fog, wind, and cold. On the other hand, between Pacific storms – or during a dry year like this one – a typical winter day may feature brilliant sunshine and long vistas and temperatures that are as warm as those of summer here.

As the day developed I shifted from looking for the effects of first and early light coming over ridges and into canyons, or the thinning offshore clouds. Instead I started to think about the long coastal vistas, the intense reflection of the ocean seen from high places (which always makes me think of molten metal), and the way that the backlit atmosphere highlights receding ridges as they disappear into the distance. As we came over one of the high points and around the corner the road began to drop and this view appeared in front of us, with two sea stacks in the foreground (one of which contains a natural arch) and the rugged coastline curving toward the south.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: San Francisco

Marin Headlands, Winter Evening

January 24, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Golden evening haze over the Pacific Coast below the rugged cliffs of the Marin headlands

How we ended up here on this evening in a slightly complicated and random story. Our main goal was to go San Francisco’s De Young Museum, where the big show of David Hockney’s work was entering its final days – we had been planning to go but somehow the time passed and it was now or never. I’d write, “It is a great show and you should go…” but it is too late! Hockney’s work is engrossing and compelling and includes subjects that a landscape photographer can identify with. (Hockney’s relationship to photography is interesting and, it seems, a bit complex. He is known for some photo collages that he created, yet he disparages photography or at least the way photography is often done. He apparently said something about photography along the lines of it being fine if you want to view the world from the point of view of a paralyzed cyclops. Ouch!)

We spent a few hours in the exhibit and then it was mid afternoon. There were still a couple of hours of light left, so we decided to head across the Golden Gate Bridge, but with only the vaguest of plans in mind. (Basically the plan consisted of “Coffee and then look for something before the light is gone.”) By the time we got over there and were ready to look for light, we realized that we had only a short time before the light would go and we would have to head back over the bridge to get dinner. (We had reservations at a favorite Indian restaurant.) We realized that we had only enough time to drive up into the headlands on our way to the bridge, so up Conzelman Road we went. I missed a mysterious and ominous photograph of a large freighter in the haze outside the Golden Gate since I wasn’t able to find a place to stop and park – but we finally managed to park the car and get out and look around. I did not take my camera gear out at first, since I have more than enough photographs of The City and the bridge at sunset, but soon I became interested in the backlit glow around the rugged cliffs dropping to the water to the west and then the expanse of glowing, hazy air stretching over the water towards the horizon, where water and sky merged invisibly.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sea

Elephant Seals – Mother and Pup

Sunset Light, Big Sur

Sea Stacks, Big Sur Coastline

Marin Headlands, Winter Evening

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