Tag Archives: shoreline

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

Clearing Fog, Point Sur Shoreline

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Clearlng Fog, Point Sur Shoreline
Sun shines on the shoreline near Point Sur Lighthouse as morning fog thins

Clearing Fog, Point Sur Shoreline. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sun shines on the shoreline near Point Sur Lighthouse as morning fog thins

Most of the photographers I know have their “home territory,” the “local neighborhood” where they have photographed for a long time and to which they like to return. For some it may literally be their neighborhood, and they may photograph right around where they live, perhaps even within walking distance. For others it might be a place they no longer live but which they regard as “home” when they go back. My photographic home is rather large, and for almost my entire life it has included California territory from the Pacific coast and redwoods through the Sierra Nevada. Within this larger area, I have to think that the California coast is probably the strongest “home” for me. I’ve gone since my family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when I was four-years-old, and we used to visit state beaches and explore tide pools and coastal trails at Point Lobos.

I still live close enough that I can get up early, drive to the coast, photograph for a few hours, and be home by early afternoon. That’s exactly what I did today. I always check weather forecasts before heading over, and today’s imagined that the coastal fog would break up around 8:00 AM. Wrong. But, no problem, I simply headed a bit farther down the coast, looking for that region of special light on the border between thinning fog and hazy sunlight. I found that boundary and made this photograph of a familiar area where the rocky headlands and beaches lead toward the old Point Sur Lighthouse. There was plenty of filtered sunlight, and still a few cloud shadows when I made the photograph.

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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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mono Lake Shoreline, Evening

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Mono Lake Shoreline, Evening
The last light on hills beyond the Mono Lake shoreline

Mono Lake Shoreline, Evening. Mono Basin, California. October 4, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The last light on hills beyond the Mono Lake shoreline

I’ve long been fascinated by the view across this section of the Mono Lake shoreline. It contains a lot of things that I consider essential to the Mono Lake experience — tufa “towers” (though these are more like islands), the shallow shoreline with its curving edges, the larger islands and buttes, the distant mountains in the east, the immense open sky, and the textured and reflecting surface of the water.

In a way, this photograph was sort of (but not exactly!) the result of “killing time” between photographing two other subjects. I had been at a nearby area with colorful aspen trees, and had finished up there — the light was gone sooner than expected when high clouds moved in. At that point I knew that the full moon was going to rise close to sunset, so I decided to find a location along the Mono Lake shoreline to photograph it. I arrived there too early — better than too late! — and had some time to photograph other things as I waited for the moon. I went ahead and set up tripod and camera with some urgency as I noticed to last sunlight on some of those distant hills.

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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Morning Reflection

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Morning Reflection
The image of a shoreline forest is reflected in the still morning waters of a subalpine lake

Morning Reflection. Yosemite National Park, California. July 27, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The image of a shoreline forest is reflected in the still morning waters of a subalpine lake

Since the Tuolumne Meadows campground (along with everything else along Tioga Pass Road) was still not open during this late-July visit (in the aftermath of a very heavy snow year) I ended up camping at a forest service campground just outside the park. Since this place wasn’t ideally located for photography I ended up doing a fair amount of driving — down 120 towards Mono Lake and nearby areas, or back up 120 into the park. On this morning my pre-dawn drive took me over the pass, into the park, and down through the virtually deserted Tuolumne Meadows area.

I continued on along this road, eventually arriving this popular lake to find it deserted at this early hour. Later in the morning the hordes would arrive here, but in the very early morning I had it to myself. The water was almost still as I set up my camera, with the tiniest bit of mist floating above its surface. I made a couple of exposures, and suddenly the reflections were broken up as breezes began to stir the surface of the lake.

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 and Amazon.
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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: Sierra Nevada

Shoreline Tree, Evening Light

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Shoreline Tree, Evening Light
A sturdy tree at sunset on the rocky shoreline of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

Shoreline Tree, Evening Light. Hoover Wilderness Area, California. August 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sturdy tree at sunset on the rocky shoreline of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

In a previous post I described how this short eastern Sierra backpacking trip transitioned from seriously challenging weather on day one to seriously lovely weather on the evening of day two. The onset of sudden, heavy, and long-lasting rain on day one created challenges for all of us, and caused me to make camp before getting to my intended destination. (Others in my group spent hours waiting out the storm under a rocky overhang, which yet other group members got quite wet trying to set up camp in the rain.) Day two started out looking like rain, but the clouds cleared and left us with pleasant, beautiful, and quite benign weather in the evening.

There is something extra peaceful about a beautiful evening following one that was distinctly not so pleasant, and we were in a relaxed frame of mind. We had a nice, spacious camp in flat, open forest, and nearby we found a flat area above the lake to sit and enjoy dinner with a view. As we ate I eyed some shoreline trees, including this one, that grew out of rocky outcroppings next to the water. Just before the final sunlight left us for the day I climbed up above this tree to position it against the evening-blue water of the lake.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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