Tag Archives: shore

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Gated Pier

June 27, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A metal gate blocks the entrance to a pier along San Francisco Bay

This is another in the recent series of photographs made along the San Francisco waterfront, walking along various less-visited areas and occasionally poking my head into places that are more industrial than tourism oriented. I’d have to review more closely to remember for certain, but I believe this one was in the China Basin waterfront area.

As I walked slowly along this section of the waterfront I paused frequently to photograph buildings and other features of the area. This is an area in transition, and taken as a whole this part of the waterfront ranges from old and dilapidated, through working piers, and right on up to remodeled and updated areas reoriented towards business or tourism. By comparison to some of the older working piers, this one seems awfully neat and clean, with the exception of some fabric pushed up against the wall at the far left. The stark lines and stark morning light, open to the vast sky above the bay caught my attention.

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Decaying Shoreline Docks

June 26, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Decaying docks along the San Francisco Bay waterfront

Early on a late-spring morning I arrived in San Francisco on the train, reaching the waterfront area not too long after sunrise and then exploring on foot. I wandered over into the China Basin area, which is currently a hotbed of construction projects. This formerly almost abandoned area is now the location of many new buildings and projects.

I passed through those areas and soon arrived at the waterfront, which so far does not show much of the newness that is found a bit further from the shoreline. Here a rocky breakwater runs along the edge of the water, and old broken down piers sag above and sometimes into the water. Out on the bay there are tankers moored on the horizon, and the brilliant morning sun was rising above a thin fog back on the east side of the bay. For some odd reason, an old lawn chair sets near one end of this rickety dock.

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

Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean

June 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sandstone shoreline rocks along the Pacific Ocean coast at Point Lobos State Reserve

I’ve been sitting on this photograph for some time, perhaps because it isn’t exactly a spectacular scene but more of a familiar and subtle one with personal connections. During a busy period earlier this spring I had not been able to find time to photograph my favorite subjects for a few weeks and I was itching to get out… so I simply headed out one morning to this familiar location.

I’ve been going to Point Lobos for decades, since I was a very young child and my family would make day trips down there. In those days we would explore rocks just like these —in fact, they may have been these very rocks — and investigate nearby tide pools. On this spring morning there were few other visitors, perhaps because of the high cloudiness that was making the day almost a bit gray and softening in the light.

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

Point Sur Lighthouse

June 10, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The lighthouse at Point Sur, Big Sur Coast

We are now very close to summer, the time of year when, frankly, the Pacific Coast can be somewhat less exciting from a photographic perspective. From my point of view, winter is the time to visit and the time to photograph. In a typical year (and this was not a typical year) a pattern repeats for several month. Big Pacific storms roll through, building giant surf, bringing rain, and then clearing. In the wake of the storms there may be a series of sunny days—sometimes warmer than summer here!—that are broken by beautiful clouds. The light is often spectacular, ranging from the brilliant light of clear weather to the moody light when the atmosphere is filled with moisture.

Near the end of this past January we travelled down this coast, on one of those “typical winter days” when there was plenty of bright sun, but also mist and spray thrown up by the ocean. This location is iconic along this section of the Pacific Coast Highway. Near the outlet of the Little Sur River, this “almost island” of Point Sur stands at the end of a strand of beach extending out into the ocean, and a historic lighthouse stands on top of the hill. Descending toward this point from the north, the view extends right along the rugged shoreline and beach just north of the Point.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: shore

Gated Pier

Decaying Shoreline Docks

Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean

Point Sur Lighthouse

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