Tag Archives: lighthouse

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

Winter Surf and Clouds

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Winter Surf and Clouds
“Winter Surf and Clouds” — Raging winter storm surf and cloudy skies near Pigeon Point, California.

If you visited this beach, located south of San Francisco, on a sunny summer day you would be tempted to wander the sand, perhaps wade into the surf, or even go for swim. But this was not that day. Between Christmas and New Year’s Day stormy weather in the Gulf of Alaska sent huge swells toward the California coast. Waves topped thirty feet and were close to that here. The furthest waves in the distance in this photograph were just plain huge.

It was cloudy and trying to rain when we arrived. But the storm was passing and the clouds soon began to thin. Beams of light broke through, and it wasn’t long before blue sky appeared. But the surf continued to rage, and as the waves broke they rolled up onto and across the beach — a place where you definitely did not want to stand on this afternoon.

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: Fall, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Sur Point, Cliff, Autumn

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Sur Point, Cliff, Autumn
Looking south into brilliant autumn light over Big Sur cliffs and Sur Point.

Sur Point, Cliff, Autumn. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Looking south into brilliant autumn light over Big Sur cliffs and Sur Point.

This photograph was made from the same location as the one I shared yesterday and, obviously, it includes the same primary subject. That is Sur Point, just north of the town of Big Sur and the location of the historic Sur Point Lighthouse. I was in that area recently, spending a welcome day in the presence of big vistas, big surf, and the autumn coastal light.

The other photograph focused more on the sky above the Pacific Ocean, placing the Point and a bit of surf close to the bottom of the frame in order include more of that gigantic sky. As an alternative interpretation I also aimed the camera lower to produce a composition that included the dark foreground cliffs just below my position. The curve of the dark foreground seemed to lead toward the peninsula holding Point Sur and to contrast with the brilliant light in the misty, backlight atmosphere above 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.

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

Sur Point, Autumn Sky

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Sur Point, Autumn Sky
Precursor clouds from an incoming weather front in the sky above Sur Point.

Sur Point, Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Precursor clouds from an incoming weather front in the sky above Sur Point.

The mound at the lower right in this photograph is Sur Point, the site of an old lighthouse facility along the Big Sur coast of California. The historic facility has been there for a long time. From what I understand it was originally so isolated that the families that manned the facility had to grow their own food, and they were resupplied only occasionally and by ship. The point sits on a low peninsula, connected to the mainland only by a low, sandy spit of land.

This photograph embodies several things that attract me to portions of this rugged (though today quite accessible) coastline. It sits at the western edge of a continent populated by a people whose history included (largely but not exclusively) arrival here at the far end of journeys from the east. (Today it just be acknowledged that an increasing number arrived by other paths and that before those of us with shorter histories here arrived others had been here for millennia.) Here, as we look over the eastern edge of the world’s largest ocean, there is a sense of vast, monumental space — something that I like and have not been able to experience as much as I would like during the pandemic.

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: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Sur Point Lighthouse, Winter

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Winter surf below Sur Point and the Sur Point Lighthouse.

Sur Point Lighthouse, Winter. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter surf below Sur Point and the Sur Point Lighthouse.

As happens from time to time, I made a series of photographs of this subject on this winter day. One advantage of digital photography is that it is possible — and useful! — to make quite a few exposures of transient subject like water and clouds whose precise appearance is difficult to predict and for which precise timing is almost impossible. While I’ve seen photographers make hundreds of exposures of really active subjects such as moving water, this one wasn’t quite so difficult — just a series of waves moving up onto the beach and the varying qualities of the drifting spray. My first inclination was to share a different photograph from the set, which I did perhaps a few weeks ago. But now, in looking at the files more closely, I’ve changed my mind and I think I prefer this one.

At any time of year the light along this section of the California coast can be quite interesting. Because the coast doesn’t run on a perfect north-south line, instead angling to the east as you head south, for much of the day offshore features are backlit to a greater or lesser extent. (The sun also reflects off the ocean’s surface in wonderful ways, even at midday when the sun is directly south.) This meant that the rocky shape of Sur Point was deeply backlit, and exposing for the shadow details would risk losing details in the rest of the scene — so I decided to treat it as more of a silhouette. (Some details are visible, though hard to see in a web version.) In the end, that nearly black form may help enhance the visibility of the mist and spray being blown from the big winter surf.

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.