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

Three Pelicans in Flight, Waddell Beach

December 5, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

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

December 4, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

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.

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

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

Runoff Pool, Evening – Tuolumne Meadows

December 3, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I made this photograph on a very early-season visit to the Tuolumne Meadows area in early July of this year. Since this was a below-normal precipitation year, the road to the pass cleared a bit on the early side and by early July almost all of the snow was gone at road level – but there was still a good amount of run-off water in Tuolumne Meadows. (Though nothing like in the big precipitation years, when portions of the meadow become more lake than solid ground.)

There were some interesting clouds this evening so I wandered out into one of my favorite areas in the lower end of the meadow as the day ended and photographed the new grasses and pools of water that reflected sky, clouds, and surrounding peaks. In the distance the summit of Ragged Peak marks the location of Young Lakes.

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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

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

Wall and Shadows, Interior Detail

December 2, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photograph of shadowed wall in a sunlit interior space with diagonal forms in downtown San Francisco.

For better or worse, I almost never discard my RAW files – I have tens of thousands of them on my hard drives. The way I look at it, hard drives storage space is cheap, and I know that I occasionally find an interesting photograph among some of the older stuff. This week I’ve been dealing with “computer issues” – installing a new hard drive, changing my backup strategy, and giving the Lightroom beta a try. Setting up Lightroom involved importing tens of thousands of images into that program’s environment, and along the way I saw some older stuff appear including a series of photographs I made while walking around in San Francisco three years ago. I remember being interested in this one back then, but it simply fell off the “to do” list as I worked on other things.

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.

keywords: wall, window, board, diagonal, light, shadow, reflection, shape, structure, interior, building, downtown, san francisco, california, usa, architecture, vertical, horizontal, urban, street, city, travel, form, detail, stock

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Monthly Archives: December 2009

Three Pelicans in Flight, Waddell Beach

Richardson Bay and Morning Haze

Wall and Shadows, Interior Detail

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.