Sandhill Cranes, Tule Fog. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A flock of lesser sandhilll cranes in a wetland pond on a foggy winter morning.
Unlike most winter drivers in California, I was thrilled when I ran into serious fog about an hour before arriving at my intended photography location. I chose this day to visit the Great Central Valley specifically because I hoped to photograph in such fog. As I continued to drive, dropping down into the valley from surrounding hills, the fog only got thicker. By the time I arrived at my destination is was so thick that the roadway was. barely visible in the pre-dawn darkness. I turned off the main road and spent some time looking for birds, finally finding a flock of cranes standing in a shallow pond.
To read about nature photography and photographers, you might occasionally get the mistaken idea that it involves non-stop action and compelling scenes. You would be wrong. Those tend to the exceptions, and they are often separated by long periods of stillness and quiet. I don’t regard that as a problem and, in fact, this is part of the appeal of these places. The fog amplifies this effect, muting sounds and restricting visibility to a small radius. I stopped and slowly and patiently watched these birds, barely visible at times in the fog, making occasional photographs as they assembled themselves in interesting compositions.
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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