Tag Archives: thin

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Dune and Sky

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Dune and Sky
Thin clouds pass above sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Dune and Sky. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thin clouds pass above sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

These particular sand dunes and I have a kind of fraught relationship. The first time I visited this location was in the middle of winter some years ago. There was one other party there when I arrived, and they soon departed, leaving me to remain overnight in this vast landscape all alone. It was cold, as the higher elevations of the desert can sometimes be. And I had a difficult time finding photographic compositions that pleased me. Somehow I just found it more difficult to photograph this location than some of the others I knew better.

I was back again this spring. I was most certainly not alone this time! I think that the pandemic had enhanced the appeal of remote camping, and there were more than a dozen other parties, some quite large, on the night I was there. Late on the first day it seemed like time to make some photographs, so I loaded up and started walking. However, the wind had other ideas, and the gale was so strong that I wasn’t certain that I’d be able to photograph at all. I finally decided that if I used a relatively wide-angle lens, rather than the long focal lengths I wanted to use, that I might be able to wait for slight decrease in the wind velocity and get things stable enough to make a photograph. In the end, this particular subject and composition was the only one that I was able to complete successfully before the wind drove me back to camp.

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: Ocean & Coast

Forest and Fog

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Forest and Fog
Sunlight begins to thin the morning fog in a Monterey Peninsula forest.

Forest and Fog. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunlight begins to thin the morning fog in a Monterey Peninsula forest.

Today we visit the California coast below the Monterey Peninsula, at the Point Lobos State Reserve. (That is the actual name, though many of us casually refer to it as a state “park.”) I have gone to this place for decades, since my parents took us there as kids. Back then the big attractions were the tide pools (the number one attraction!), the various sea mammals, and the surf. Those are still on my list when I go there, though now I’m more likely to go with the goal of making photographs. (The place, like so much of the Big Sur coast, has become almost impossibly popular, so I try to visit at odd, off-peak times.)

I had gone down there on this 2013 early spring day to make photographs. My typical routine is to arrive very early, before those crowds show up, and spend a few hours photographing in relative quiet. This time I headed to a location in the more northerly portion of the small preserve, where there are views back across the coastal forests and toward the low hills to the east. Because it was morning, the sun was coming over those hills just as the fog was starting to then, allowing a bit more light into the gaps between the trees.

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, Photographs: Travel

Layered Fog, Big Sur Coast

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Layered Fog, Big Sur Coast
Layers of thin, low-level fog hug the rugged Big Sur coastline of California

Layered Fog, Big Sur Coast. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Layers of thin, low-level fog hug the rugged Big Sur coastline of California

Over the course of many trips down through the Big Sur coast of California I have gotten acquainted with a range of weather, atmosphere, and light conditions. My favorites come during part of the year that starts now — late fall through early spring. It can be bright and sunny with warm temperatures, but more often there is wind, big surf, a passing weather front, or fog. One of my favorite conditions sometimes arises when there is a combination of sun and big surf from distant storms far offshore. The light is brilliant, but low fog and spray hugs the immediate coast.

It was that kind of weather during our early December day trip partway down this section of the coast. We could see new travel restrictions coming, and we wanted to get out before they arrived. (Because we can do this as a day trip, with no stops for food or gas along the way, it is safe for us… unlike overnight travel.) As we headed south the low coastal fog was usually backlit, as it is here, producing very dramatic effects.

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

Central Valley Winter Sky

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Central Valley Winter Sky
Pre-sunrise winter sky and thin fog above Central Valley wetlands.

Central Valley Winter Sky. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pre-sunrise winter sky and thin fog above Central Valley wetlands.

These days it is hard to precisely put my finger on the character of California’s Great Central Valley, comprised of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys and the delta where they merge with the San Francisco Bay. Many years ago a drive though the valley was all about agricultural communities, but today things are less homogeneous. Some areas seem more like extensions of the urban San Francisco Bay Area — see towns along the busy I80 corridor and the “bedroom communities” from which long-distance drivers commute in each day. Other towns further into the Valley, including many along Highway 99, have become so large that their agricultural roots seem more distant. To be sure, agriculture remains pervasive in the Valley, as a drive though almost any portion of it will make clear.

Among the features that continue to define this valley for me are its flat geography and the vast expanse of uninterrupted sky. This photograph focuses on both. I chose to place the horizon very close to the bottom of the frame since that’s were it is when we look up at skies like the one in this photograph. It was very early on a late-winter morning, before the sun had come up. The light was blue and thin dawn tule fog was dissipating above these wetlands.

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.

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