Tag Archives: sea

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

Cliffs, Morning Mist

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Cliffs, Morning Mist
Morning mist along the steep headlands cliffs of the rugged Big Sur region.

Cliffs, Morning Mist. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning mist along the steep headlands cliffs of the rugged Big Sur region.

Earlier this week I made a quick trip down the coast to the Big Sur region, getting as far south as Sur Point. This is a short enough drive for me that I can leave home early, photograph all morning, and be home for a late lunch. The conditions can vary greatly at this time of year. Often it is sunny and clear, as it was on this visit, but it can also be foggy and cold. When a big Pacific front rolls through, watch out —huge waves roll in and landslides can close the coast highway. One thing I did not have was the all-too-common summer crowds —a late fall weekday morning is not crowded at all.

The photograph includes a familiar section of the Big Sur coast, and it is visible from another well-known icon. (I think I did all that I could do with that famous subject years ago… and now this nearby terrain interests me more.) Here the road rises to a high point, and tall cliffs drop abruptly to the ocean from the tall bluffs. A bit of fog and mist softened the morning light.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Moving Water

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Moving Water
A small wave crosses kelp and sand in shallow water at the Pacific Ocean shoreline.

Moving Water. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A small wave crosses kelp and sand in shallow water at the Pacific Ocean shoreline.

This is the second of a pair of somewhat abstract water photographs I made on a quick visit to the California coast last week. I just had a few hours, so I went up the coast from Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay, then over the coast range and returned to Silicon Valley. It was an “extremely typical” day in this part of the world, by which I mean that the conditions were “typical” (cool and foggy) for this time of the year, but even more so to the point that I encountered coastal drizzle heavy enough to feel like rain.

I paused at one overlook high above the Pacific, hoping to photograph pelicans that often coast past on updrafts from the incoming ocean winds. I just missed oen flock as I arrived, but I quickly attached the long lens and… waited… for the next flock… which never showed up. Since I had that lens on the camera I decided to point down rather than up and photograph the shallow water at the edge of the ocean far below.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

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

Clearing Coastal Fog

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Clearing Coastal Fog
Morning coastal fog begins to break up over the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.

Clearing Coastal Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning coastal fog begins to break up over the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.

Conditions were both odd… and very normal for June on this recent visit to the Pacific coastline between Santa Cruz and San Francisco. The odd? In some spots the drizzle was heavy enough to almost count as rain, something quite unusual in these parts of California in June. The usual? We have a term for it here: “June Gloom,” when the influence of cooler ocean waters creates a lot of coastal fog, often sufficient to spread inland throughout the Bay Area.

The three things that will usually bring me to the coast to photograph are fog, a storm, and/or high surf. This was obviously a foggy day, and my general strategy is to photograph in the moody, murky fog until it begins to clear. At that point I chase the fog line, where all kinds of wonderful things happen with light and color. The blue of the sky intensifies the color of the water, and the contrasts grow between shaded ocean and the places where it is either still in fog or catching the first sun.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

Rock Face, Pacific Coast Shoreline

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Rock Face, Pacific Coast Shoreline
Fractured layers of rock ascending above the edge of the ocean, Point Lobos.

Rock Face, Pacific Coast Shoreline. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Fractured layers of rock ascending above the edge of the ocean, Point Lobos.

This little peninsula at Point Lobos State Reserve couldn’t be more than a couple of hundred feet long, if that. I first visited it when I was a pre-teen and my family came here to explore tide pools. Later I took a camera and photographed here starting in my teenage years and continuing from time to time since then. By now you would think that I’d know every single rock, crevice, and layer. Yet when I go back I still see things I had missed before.

These rocks are on the inland side of the low peninsula that extends a short distance toward the entrance to a small cove. Even at high tide the rocks remain above water, though in heavy winter surf the waves can crash over this formation. It is a striking bit of rock, cut through by curving strata that briefly rise to the surface and then submerge again as they head inland. The material is what I presume to be a conglomerate, so there are many contrasting smaller embedded rocks. It is cut by fissures and cracks along the strata, and there is a seeming infinity of color and texture variations.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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