Thick forest growth along the top of cliffs along the Northside Trail at Point Lobos State Reserve.
The bit of thick forest with a carpet of green plants and yellow flowers grows on the edge of the cliff above the Pacific Ocean along the north shore of Point Lobos State Reserve. The soft and diffused light from coastal fog allows the colors of the plants to come out, but it also makes for a complex image since even the normally shaded areas are well lit. The idea here was to try to create a very complex image that is somewhat held together by the vertical patterns of the tree trunks.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Morning light and morning fog fill the upper reaches of Soberanes Canyon, Big Sur, California.
I’ve driven past the trailhead for Soberanes Canyon many times. The trail starts at a curve in the Coast Highway above a popular portion of the rugged beach at Garrapata State Park. This time, as I came past heading south I noticed brilliant light in the steep canyon above the trailhead caused by light shining down from the tops of the peaks through the slightly foggy atmosphere. I didn’t stop right away – I had a different objective further down the coast in mind – but I made a mental note to take a look on my way back north, thinking that I’d probably be back within a half hour or so.
I did return shortly. I parked, loaded up the photo gear, and headed up the trail towards the canyon. I wanted to try to make a photograph that captures the intensity of the light-filled atmosphere created when a steep canyon like this is filled with slightly hazy air – the light is so bright that you almost cannot look at it, but when you do look the light seems almost palpable and the receding ridges of the canyon form interesting patterns before the furthest of them virtually disappear into the light. My first stop was at a small footbridge crossing a creek. This might have made a beautiful photograph – with lush green plants and wildflowers lining the small, rushing creek and the mountains beyond – but I couldn’t find a composition that would work, do so I continued on a bit. Soon I came to a more open area where the trail curved above the floor of the canyon near a cactus-covered slope, and from here the view into the upper reaches of the canyon was unobstructed.
As I framed up several compositions of the ridge patterns of the canyon the light continued to change – one moment it was smooth and undifferentiated, but the next a bit of fog would come through and brilliant clouds would sit on top of the ridge. In the end I wasn’t completely satisfied with the result – but I’m going to think of this as work in progress, and I’ll be back to try to photograph this canyon and these conditions again.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Black and white panoramic format photograph of a moving rock at Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California.
This photograph probably belongs in the “trying to turn lemons into lemonade” file. I’ve had wonderful luck with great light on all of my previous visits to the remote Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, the site of the “moving rocks” that have left tracks in their wake across the playa surface. However, my string luck seemed to run out on this late March visit. Earlier in the day as I contemplated whether or not to head out there I noticed some budding lenticular clouds to the north and made the decision to go. My preference is to have some clouds at the Racetrack, as perfectly clear sky isn’t as interesting in my view. Plus I always have in mind a particular previous visit when I photographed the playa at dawn with beautiful lenticulars building over the mountains to the north of the playa, and I think I’m always hoping for similar conditions again.
The plan on this visit was to arrive in the mid-afternoon to shoot the Grandstand, a formation near where the road first arrives at the playa, and to then photograph the beautiful evening light, the full moon (in the evening and then again before dawn) and finally the dawn light. The conditions continued to look great as I did the long washboard drive to the playa, and I arrived and photographed the Grandstand as planned. However, as I finished up here a high band of clouds moved across the sky and flattened out the light. As evening came on I was out on the playa, but the clouds remained and the light was not remarkable. I finally wandered back off the playa after dark, hoping that the clouds would clear and allow full moon photography. This never happened, and when I returned to the playa early in the morning the overcast was still present, with only a thin area of blue sky far to the west.
But I photographed anyway. Softer, overcast light has its potential, and since I was there I was certainly not going to waste the opportunity. In the end, I wasn’t thrilled with what I brought back for the most part, though I do like the effect of the overcast and the softer light on this black and white photograph of one of the more recognizable rocks. (By the way, the rest of my Death Valley visit went much better than this one night!)
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Black and white photograph of a single succulent plant growing on an almost barren rock face at Castle Rock State Park, California.
I wish I had a better title for this photograph, but I’m afraid that I am not expert at plant identification. (Yes, I’m hoping that someone who knows about these things will offer an identification – I’ll change the title to reflect this. Thanks in advance!)
(Update: “Thank you!” to Gena and Guy who suggest that it is a type of stonecrop. That makes sense to me.)
On this warm spring-like morning I hiked at Castle Rock State Park along the summit ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains – this was my first hike of the season on which it actually felt like spring rather than winter. (It has been a wet winter here in the San Francisco Bay Area.) As I passed over a rocky section of the trail to Goat Rock I paused to think about photographing some ferns and wildflowers that were growing against the base of a small rock face. I didn’t find anything along those lines worth photographing, but I did spot this single specimen of some sort of small succulent plant growing out of seemingly nothing in the middle of the rock face. The plant’s location was so improbable that I stopped and looked around for another of the same type, but this seemed to be the only one.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 105mm
ISO 100, f/16, 2 seconds
keywords: black and white, monochrome, single, succulent, plant, leaf, pointed, spring, season, cliff, wall, moss, lichen, trail, hike, castle rock, state, park, california, usa, north america, nature, flora, vegetation, barren, face, stock
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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