Tag Archives: silhouette

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

Dusk Haze, Stinson Beach

September 8, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dusk haze from northern California forest fires colors the sunset sky above Stinson Beach.

The typical wildfires of September and October are a mixed blessing. They are most certainly tragic for those whose homes and livelihoods are affected by them, and Californians have learned to take their dangers very seriously. At the same time, fire is a natural part of the ecology in this part of the world, and a healthy environment for forests and grasslands seems to require periodic fire. In any case, the fires can also seem like a mixed blessing. If you go to areas affected by the smoke at this time of year – and it happens essentially every year – looking for clear vistas, you may well find them impeded by smoke and haze. On the other hand, if you look at this phenomenon just a bit differently you may find that the hazy atmosphere can produce its own visual magic – and especially at sunset.

This is another of several photographs I made at the end of the day just below Stinson Beach, as we climbed into the headlands hills of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area near sunset during our drive back down the coast from the Mendocino area. With this sort of atmosphere it is hard to know in advance just how things will evolve – will the day simply come to a quiet and gray conclusion, or will the golden hour light illuminate and color the atmosphere in brilliant sometimes almost unbelievable ways. The entire sky did not look like this, but down close to the horizon and right above the shoreline extending from Stinson Beach it did light up with a very colorful glow, so I used a long lens to limit the angle of view to the most colorful portions of the sky and haze.

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: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Owens Valley

Three Towers, Morning

July 26, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Three tufa towers in morning light, surrounded by wind-blown patterns on the surface of Mono Lake, California.

In mid-July I was in the Tuolumne/Tioga Pass area of the Sierra for a few days of photograph. In the end, I decided to stay over one extra night so that I could drive down to photograph around Mono Lake early in the morning before heading home. I was up before dawn, quickly in my car, and down to the shoreline of Mono Lake before sunrise. My first objective was to try to photograph sand tufa formations – not the more famous tufa towers. I found what I was looking for, and spend the sunrise period photographing them in first light. However, this opportunity quickly ended, so I turned my attention to the lake itself, along with its surroundings of low hills.

While the tufa towers are the iconic visual symbols of Mono Lake, I have some other and perhaps strong associations with the place. Most of them are connected to a time of day, early morning, when I most often visit. They involve near silence, broken only by the sounds of the many gulls and other birds that are found in and around the lake. In my memories, the air is still, and it is warm, the warm of early an early desert morning that holds the smell of sage and dust. And while the moment of sunrise is what I often go there to find, in the end it is the light that comes a bit later that sticks most in my mind. This light is bright – almost too bright to look into if the lake is hazy – and it is blue with distance. This is the light that I saw on this morning, with a bit of very light breeze forming slight patterns on the surface of the lake near three isolated tufa towers.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Morning, Tuolumne Meadows

July 22, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Trees of Tuolumne Meadows in morning light, with forest ascending background slopes, Yosemite Naitonal Park.

As a photographer, I am often up and off to shoot some interesting subject well before dawn. When I am car-camping, as I was during my mid-July visit to Tuolumne Meadows this year, I have a loose ritual that I usually follow. The night before I come up with one or more subjects that I would like to photograph in morning light. Based on where those are – driving or walking distance, and closer or further away – I set an alarm for a much earlier time than I want to. Then I have everything ready for a quick and fairly brainless early start – anything I’ll need to take from the tent sits by the end of the zipper I’ll grab to open the tent, and other things are already in the car. The alarm goes off – way too early for my brain, of course! – and I try to sit up so that I won’t go back to sleep and then put on whatever clothes I need for the morning weather. On a good day, I’m out of the tent and in the car in 5 minutes. On a bad day it might take 15. (On a really bad day, I have been known to just go back to sleep! Hey, it happens… but not very often.) I get in the car and try to drive out of the campground as quickly and quietly as possible.

You may have noticed that something was missing from that routine – breakfast! Indeed, I usually don’t bother with breakfast before shooting, preferring instead to get to work while the light is good. As hard as it can be to get started, it usually doesn’t take too long to find some site so special and compelling that I forget how hard it was to get up so early. In fact, once I get going I am often surprised to find so few others out and about at this time of the most beautiful light. Frequently I may see only a few hikers and perhaps another photographer or two, and even a couple of hours later, as the best light begins to transition into the “blah” daytime light, many people are apparently still in their sleeping bags.

I didn’t have far to go on this morning. Tuolumne Meadows is just across Tioga Pass Road from the main campground. The early light was a bit hazy, and as the backlight lit up the meadow and fringed the many trees, this haze enhanced the sense of distance between the closer trees and the forest leading up the more distant hillside.

Photographs: San Francisco

Pier, San Francisco Bay, Morning

June 30, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

An old pier along the Embarcadero, San Francisco Bay, with structures of the Port of Oakland, California across the water.

I wonder how long it will take for me to feel that I have exhausted the possibilities of this walk along San Francisco’s Embarcadero? Here is (yet another!) morning photograph made it this area, once again with what is perhaps my favorite light in this location – the early morning glow of backlit fog/haze over the waters of the Bay.

I made this photograph on a very calm summer morning when there waters of the Bay were almost completely smooth, at least until a bit of boat traffic began to come by and a breeze came up. Interjecting itself into the left side of the frame is one of the old piers along this section of the waterfront. In the far distance, all the way on the other side of the bay and muted by the morning haze, are giant cranes used at the Port of Oakland.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: silhouette

Dusk Haze, Stinson Beach

Three Towers, Morning

Morning, Tuolumne Meadows

Pier, San Francisco Bay, Morning

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