Tag Archives: sea

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

Big Sur Coast Near Bixby Creek, Winter

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Big Sur Coast Near Bixby Creek, Winter
Big Sur Coast Near Bixby Creek, Winter

Big Sur Coast Near Bixby Creek, Winter. Pacific Ocean, California. January 1, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light winter rain falls on the rugged Big Sur coastline near Bixby Creek.

This is one more – and perhaps the final – photograph from New Years Day 2011 along the Big Sur coast line. While this is perhaps not your chamber of commerce picture perfect day, it is my kind of Big Sur day. As I made the photograph the wind was absolutely howling – so strong that I couldn’t really use my tripod, so I instead hand held the camera and braced it and myself against a very large boulder. To make things even more “fun,” it was trying very hard to rain!

The location is precisely at the spot where many of the iconic photographs of Bixby Bridge are made, at the north end of the bridge. However, on this day I thought that the subdued tones of the winter ocean and cliffs were more interesting, so I framed my photographs to avoid including the bridge.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Monterey Cypress and Coastal Cliffs at Bluefish Cove

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Monterey Cypress and Coastal Cliffs at Bluefish Cove
Monterey Cypress and Coastal Cliffs at Bluefish Cove

Monterey Cypress and Coastal Cliffs at Bluefish Cove. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. January 8, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Monterey Cypress trees grow atop cliffs above Bluefish Cove at Point Lobos State Reserve.

One fun thing about photographing places that I have visited for nearly my full life is that it sometimes encourages me to learn things about places that I had taken for granted – like names of features and places. Although I’ve been to Point Lobos since I was a child and I have seen this area of the reserve many times, I had no idea there was a place called Bluefish Cove, much less that this was it. More accurately, the small patch of water at the foot of this wonderful bit of rocky cliff and cypress forest is Bluefish Cove. I am surprised to note that the point itself seems to be unnamed, at least according to several maps I checked, each of which names many lesser places. The ridge rises from the water to form a peninsula between Bluefish Cove and the larger Whalers Cove. Beyond and above are some of the first coastal hills at what I think of as the north end of the Big Sur coastline.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Evening Clouds and Rocks, Point Lobos

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Evening Clouds and Rocks, Point Lobos
Evening Clouds and Rocks, Point Lobos

Evening Clouds and Rocks, Point Lobos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. January 8, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening clouds over the Pacific Ocean and offshore rocks at Point Lobos State Reserve.

It always strikes me as odd that at the most beautiful time of day at Point Lobos, almost all of the park visitors have left. In the evening as the sun goes down over the Pacific and the fog may or may not roll in, there are often only a handful of people left in the park, a good number of them photographers. On this Sunday evening it may have been that some were discouraged by the low clouds that had come in earlier in the afternoon, but sometimes these clouds dissipate or are lit up from behind at sunset – at that is precisely what happened on this evening. The low clouds began to thin and as they did so beams of light came through the breaks in the clouds and painted the surface of the Pacific with patchy light. A bit later, after I made this photograph, the clouds thinned even more and high, pink sunset clouds appeared briefly. And there was not another person anywhere near me to see it.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | 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.


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

Pelican Above Water

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Pelican Above Water
Pelican Above Water

Pelican Above Water. California coast. May 15, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solo pelican coasts above the surface of the Pacific Ocean near the central California coast.

There is not too much to say about this one – since I posted a companion pelican photograph yesterday! This one is also “from the archives” – a photograph from last May that I found as I looked through last year’s raw files one last time.

(For those who are reading this in the archives, a bit more information. I frequently photograph pelicans along the California Pacific Ocean shoreline. This photograph was made from a location where I can access the top of a coastal bluff that drops almost immediately straight down to the water. The pelicans seem to make a habit of cruising up and down the tops of these bluffs on the updrafts that are created by the onshore breeze, and they fly very close to the bluff edges where I can photograph them close up.)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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