Tag Archives: waves

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

Sea of Sand

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Sea of Sand
Overlapping sand dune patterns, morning

Sea of Sand. Death Valley National Park, California. March 31, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Overlapping sand dune patterns, morning

On the last day in Death Valley this spring we were planning to head off to the Los Angeles area in the morning, but I decided I wanted to photograph one more time before departing. Although I really wanted to sleep in, after many days of rising very early, I decided to get up early one more time and head back to the dunes alone for one final bit of photography. I headed out before dawn and arrived at a location I had been to before, parked the car, hoisted a backpack and tripod, and headed out across the playa toward a section of dunes where I was reasonably certain I would be able to photograph alone. The distances are always deceiving, and the playa walk took much more than the ten minutes one might guess that it would take if unfamiliar with these places. Eventually I came to the low dunes that I had been aiming for, and I began to look for places where I could make sand fill the frame.

The dunes are deceiving on other ways, too. You might imagine that they are on the march, being pushed along by winds. The wind does move sand — and it was blowing around my feet on this morning — but overall the dune forms are actually quite stable. Sometimes these active looking yet stable features make me think of a sort of stop motion ocean, with waves and crests and valley mostly frozen — a stopped landscape mirroring the active surface of water. The patterns here range from small (the little ripples in the foreground) to quite large (the overlapping crests marching into the distance.) I worked this scene and others like it for an hour, and then it was time to leave — a walk back across the playa back to my vehicle, and then the long drive out of the desert.

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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Point Sur, Winter

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Point Sur, Winter
“Point ur, Winter” — Winter surf along the Pacific Ocean coastline at Point Sur

This is a companion to a photograph of this scene that I posted earlier. The primary difference here is the vertical composition. I’m still thinking about which I prefer. Each has its attractions. The horizontal (or “landscape”) orientation shows more of the “point” itself where the lighthouse is located and more of the ocean off the beach. On the other hand, this version seems to me to bring more attention to the water and the curve of the waves leading toward the point and the horizon.

Point Sur is a wild place, often with strong winds and big surf coming straight on towards the beach, which faces north or northwest. The point is connected to the main land by a low, sandy peninsula, and it is easy to imagine it being overwhelmed by the sea, perhaps during a tsunami. I have read that the lighthouse was originally a very isolated place when it was first constructed in the late 1800s, with the lighthouse keepers and their families largely cut off for months at a time, to the point that they grew their own crops. Of course, today it is easy to forget that relatively recent history, since thousands of visitors now pass by daily along the Pacific Coast Highway.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Point Sur

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Point Sur
Point Sur

Point Sur. Pacific Coast Highway, California. January 31, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pacific Ocean surf at the Point Sur Lighthouse near the mouth of the Little Sur River.

Point Sur is a dramatic landmark along the Big Sur coastline of California south of the Monterey area, standing apart from the main land mass and attached to it by a low peninsula with sand dunes and a beach facing north toward the Pacific. Virtually every time I have passed by here the wind has been howling, often kicking up clouds of ocean spray, or else it has been fogged in. The lighthouse itself sits near the right end of the point, as seen in this photograph, with other buildings along the highest ridge. I have yet to visit the historic structure, but I often stop along this section of the coast and try to photograph the point.

I made this photograph on a winter day when those strong winds were blowing and the winter seas were battering the north facing beach. This time I looked for a higher vantage point that would show the line of surf approaching the beach and include the silhouette of the coastal hills and bluffs at the edge of the sea. This image languished in my archive for nearly half a year before I returned to this set of images and saw that it could work in a monochrome rendition, and that this might even be a more dramatic way to show this scene.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Point Sur Lighthouse

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Point Sur Lighthouse
Point Sur Lighthouse

Point Sur Lighthouse. Pacific Coast Highway, California. January 31, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The lighthouse at Point Sur, Big Sur Coast

We are now very close to summer, the time of year when, frankly, the Pacific Coast can be somewhat less exciting from a photographic perspective. From my point of view, winter is the time to visit and the time to photograph. In a typical year (and this was not a typical year) a pattern repeats for several month. Big Pacific storms roll through, building giant surf, bringing rain, and then clearing. In the wake of the storms there may be a series of sunny days—sometimes warmer than summer here!—that are broken by beautiful clouds. The light is often spectacular, ranging from the brilliant light of clear weather to the moody light when the atmosphere is filled with moisture.

Near the end of this past January we travelled down this coast, on one of those “typical winter days” when there was plenty of bright sun, but also mist and spray thrown up by the ocean. This location is iconic along this section of the Pacific Coast Highway. Near the outlet of the Little Sur River, this “almost island” of Point Sur stands at the end of a strand of beach extending out into the ocean, and a historic lighthouse stands on top of the hill. Descending toward this point from the north, the view extends right along the rugged shoreline and beach just north of the Point.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.