Distant Sierra, Wetlands Dawn. Central Valley, California. January 28, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Seen from foggy Central Valley wetlands, dawn comes to the sky above the Sierra Nevada
Driving toward this spot in the pre-dawn hours I encountered the usual winter tule fog as soon as I left the main highway for the narrow back roads that criss-cross the agricultural lands. I figured that it would be a foggy morning out in the wetland with the birds once I got to my destination, but instead the fog thinned as I arrived and, to my surprise, I could see the pre-dawn sky. I stopped, quickly set up my camera for bird photography… and immediately began photographing landscapes!
A bit of thin fogged hugged the ground a ways off in the distance. (And later it would glide back in and cover this area to the point that visibility was near zero.) Above the fog, the ponds, and the scattered trees the silhouette of the Sierra crest stretched from north to south. When I looked closely, I could pick out familiar peaks along the distant skyline. A few birds — geese and cranes — began to fly over, and I made this photograph as the sky lit up just before sunrise.
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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