Tag Archives: surf

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

Headlands, Cliffs, and Winter Surf

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Headlands, Cliffs, and Winter Surf
Wiinter surf breaks along a wide beach at the base of coiastal cliffs and headlands, Big Sur Coast.

Headlands, Cliffs, and Winter Surf. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Winter surf breaks along a wide beach at the base of coiastal cliffs and headlands, Big Sur Coast.

Even after decades of exploring and photographing along this section of the California coast, I still find new viewpoints on almost every visit. I don’t know that there is an actual infinity of such places, but there surely are enough of them to keep one busy for an entire lifetime. As I drive along the Coast Highway I’m constantly on the lookout — sometimes to the distress of my passengers — for a new pull-out, a trail leading toward the bluffs, a high point that might provide a view, a variation on a view that I’m familiar with.

On this January visit I passed this area twice as the result of looping back to check out another possible location. So when I approached the second time I was thinking about this wide beach and trying to spot a place that might overlook it. I stopped and made a short walk out to this camera position — staying even farther than usual away from cliff edges, given their less-than-reliable condition after all of the recent rain!

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

Headlands, Surf, and Fog

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Headlands, Surf, and Fog
Headlands and coastal mountains obscured by winter fog along the Big Sur Coast.

Headlands, Surf, and Fog. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Headlands and coastal mountains obscured by winter fog along the Big Sur Coast.

This is a scene that I have tried to photograph many times. When I stop to make a photograph here, it always seems like it should be easy… but it inevitably ends up being very challenging if not impossible. The subject is quite a distance away, so it requires a very long focal length. However, the long focal length magnifies issues created by air movement across the great distance, and even with though I want to evoke that soft atmosphere, it is hard to get the right balance of detail where it is needed. I tried again this past week, and decided to interpret the subject in a bit of a different manner.

A challenge is that the hazy conditions that obscure and diffuse the subject in the way I hoped for also tend to be both gray and of quite low contrast. To address that I decided on a brighter, high key rendition of the scene in which the colors are extremely subtle and the darkest tones are, objectively speaking, still at the brighter end of the scale. In a sense, the object here is to “suggest” more than to “record.”

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

Cliffs, Beach, and Winter Surf

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Cliffs, Beach, and Winter Surf
Coastal cliffs, beach and winter surf near Rocky Point, Big Sur Coast.

Cliffs, Beach, and Winter Surf. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Coastal cliffs, beach and winter surf near Rocky Point, Big Sur Coast.

In an earlier post describing another photograph from this recent visit to the Big Sur coast I mentioned that it included virtually all of the features found in “typical”many landscape photograph from this location, with the point arguably being, “what more could I ask for?”. The truth about this visit was a bit more complicated. It was, indeed, a wonderful morning on the coast — but it also was not exactly easy photography. There were objective challenges posed by the recent heavy rains and the closures and damage they brought. But the light was also a challenge, especially when the haze became thick.

However, that same haze did thin from time to time, transforming dull and flat light into something soft and lovely — directional sunlight muted by passing through high clouds and thin fog. I spent a bit of time at the location of this photograph, and during much of it the fog was thick enough to choke off that light. But for a moment or two the fog shifted and thinned and there was enough light to create shadows and open up the scene a bit.

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

Surf #1

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Surf #1
Abstract patterns of winter surf, Big Sur coast, California.

Surf #1. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Abstract patterns of winter surf, Big Sur coast, California.

This photograph comes from a recent visit to the Monterey Peninsula and upper Big Sur Coast during a brief break in the recent string of atmospheric river storms in California. On one hand, it was quite something to see the aftermath of several weeks of heavy rains: landslides, fallen trees, closed parks, closed highway lanes, flooding, and more. But between two storms the light was a bit challenging — which had the virtue of persuading me to try a few things different than what I typically do.

This is one of the photographs in that category. I had been photographing along a section of the coast with high cliffs above the ocean (which, as Big Sur aficionados know, could be almost anywhere…) and dealing with lighting challenges and atmosphere thick with moisture. I looked down and was taken by the power of the waves. The area in the photograph was just at the break, so this power was expressed as constant motion as storm swells rolled in and some foam from nearby breaking waves streaked the water.

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.