Tag Archives: water

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Beneath the Bay Bridge

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Beneath the Bay Bridge

Beneath the Bay Bridge. San Francisco, California. September 16, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pier beneath the west end of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge with downtown San Francisco, California.

The light was a challenge in this photograph, but I found the dense and somewhat out of kilter lines and forms of the pier, bridge, and downtown buildings interesting. The photograph was made from one of the piers along the Embarcadero that is used as a parking lot – extending out into the Bay a bit it gave me a view back toward the City over and through the intervening structures.

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.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, tourist, scenic, city, urban, downtown, skyline, buildings, embarcadero, plaza, oakland, bay, bridge, concrete, steel, pier, doors, pilings, water, birds, latter, flag, cable, freeway, highway, 80, deck, upper, lower, windows, fog, sky, urban, city, waterfront, architecture, stock

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

Creek and Meadow Above Evelyn Lake

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Creek and Meadow Above Evelyn Lake

Creek and Meadow Above Evelyn Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. September 9, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trailless meadow and rolling hills along a creek above Evelyn Lake in the Yosemite Naitonal Park back-country near Fletcher Lake.

This type of country, and this area in particular, is perhaps my favorite Sierra terrain. After camping and photographing at Evelyn Lake the previous night, I woke up and spent the morning doing more photography around the lake. My hiking goal for the day was barely a mile away, Fletcher Lake and the meadows near the Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. Instead of just heading up the short trail over the low ridge between the two lakes I began scoping out the easy climb up the granite slabs above Evelyn Lake. From many previous visits to the area I knew that there is a large, rolling subalpine meadow dotted with trees, streams, and boulders in the area roughly bounded by Evelyn, Townsley, and Ireland Lakes. There is no trail through the area, but it is some of the easiest and most pleasant cross-country hiking I know of.

I started by circling around the side of Evelyn Lake near the ascent, gradually angling up and across the rocky hillside. Gradually the terrain steepened and I began to follow benches and gullies up the incline, finally spotting an area just to the left of the inlet stream to the lake that looked like it would provide a good crossing to the plateau. I arrived there and saw the lower area to my right where the creek came down from the plateau, so I headed over that way and intersected the shallow gully holding this stream and several small, seasonal ponds. After stopping here to make a few photographs, I continued ambling up this little valley and eventually crossed a broad flat area, passed by a couple alpine tarns, and finally descended past Townsley Lake to reach Fletcher Lake and my camp for the night.

(Update: This morning I thought to acknowledge another reason why I like this sort of place so much. While there are so many iconic and well-known views of the Sierra, this is an example of the sort of intimate landscape that any individual back-country traveler can find. This is just “some little spot along a creek with no trail,” and I’d guess that only a handful of people come past this spot every year and not all of them stop to look at this little scene – but it is no less spectacular on that account.)

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.

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keywords: trail, cross-country, creek, stream, bouder, rock, water, meadow, tundra, forest, tree, high, altitude, elevation, ridge, snow, field, talus, sun, field, vogelsang, lake, high, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, back-country, fletcher, lake, evelyn, landscape, scenic, travel, nature, wilderness, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, stock, parsons, peak, alpine

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

Three Pelicans in Flight, Waddell Beach

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Three Pelicans in Flight, Waddell Beach

Three Pelicans in Flight, Waddell Beach. Pacific Coast, California. December 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three pelicans, blurred by their motion, fly just above the wet sand of a Pacific Ocean beach.

It has been a busy week and it promised to remain busy next week as well, so I decided to make a quick trip over the hill to the Pacific coastline north of Santa Cruz this afternoon with a vague plan to shoot some seascapes and whatever else might come up. The weather today was a type of typical central California winter weather – some tule fog in the morning that cleared to hazy light… perfect for photography in my book! I was hoping for something like this on the coastline, too.

When I arrived I found that it was even more murky along the coast (and colder!) than back home. I finally ended up at the beach where Waddell Creek enters the Pacific and pulled over to stop before turning around and starting back. At just that moment two large groups of pelicans were coming in from the south and landing among sea gulls on the beach. I quickly put the long lens on the camera and very soon the group of birds took off and headed across the shoreline in front of me.

Most often I try to make wildlife photographs as sharp as possible, but at the moment the birds took off that just wasn’t going to be possible. I had a 400mm lens on the camera, the light was very murky, my ISO was still at 100… and the birds were in flight now! So I tracked them as they flew past, blurring the background surf and sand and letting their wings blur as well. In the end, I feel that this blurry shot in which everything seems to be in motion better suits the subject and perhaps conveys the atmosphere of the scene better than sharper photos might. (I later adjusted everything and captured a few more traditionally sharp pelican shots – and in this light they strike me as pretty boring!)

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.

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keywords: pelican, bird, marine, pelagic, brown, pacific, ocean, sea, coast, shore, shoreline, beach, sand, wave, surf, motion, fast, low, fly, blur, wing, formation, water, reflection, shadow, beak, bill, flight, california, usa, nature, travel, scenic, stock, waddell, big basin, state, park

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Richardson Bay and Morning Haze

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Richardson Bay and Morning Haze

Richardson Bay and Morning Haze. San Francisco Bay, California. October 25, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Richardson Bay and morning haze over San Francisco Bay, California.

On a late October morning – usually the most fog-free time of year in the San Francisco area – I began my day photographing the San Francisco skyline from Treasure Island at dawn before heading north over the Golden Gate towards Muir Woods National Monument. Is I approached the high point on the ridge section of the road to the park, I saw this brightly backlit haze over Richardson Bay, Tiburon Peninsula, and the San Francisco Bay and East Bay Hills beyond. Richardson Bay, in the foreground, is the body of water next to Sausalito from which the view is sometimes clear across the Golden Gate to San Francisco.

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.

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keywords: marin, tiburon, sausalito, san francisco, bay, morning, mountain, island, water, haze, california, usa, richardson, bay, east, fog, haze, water, boat, trees, forest, ridge, belvedere, sky, tiburon, peninsula, racoon, strait, silhouette, scenic, travel, landscape, stock