All posts by G Dan Mitchell

G Dan Mitchell, photographer and visual opportunist focusing on the Pacific coast, the Sierra Nevada, redwood forests, California oak/grasslands, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography and more. Posting daily photographs since 2005, along with articles, reviews, news, and ideas.

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

Melting Ice, Tenaya Lake

June 20, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 9 Comments

Ice begins to clear from the surface of Tenaya Lake in the high country of Yosemite National Park.

The annual opening of Tioga Pass Road through Yosemite National Park’s high country and over the crest of the Sierra is big news for Sierra fans every year, but in an unusual year like this one it is extra special. The road often opens by May, but because of this year’s record-setting snowpack, the road did not open until June 18. (The latest opening was in 1995 when it opened on June 30.) Many people are tremendously excited about the opening: those who want to get to the Valley from the east side of the range, those who want easier access to the east side of the Sierra, and those of us who feel like the heart of the park is in the high country that is accessible from the road. With this in mind, it was no surprise to find lots of people up there on Saturday for the opening!

This photograph was made as late-afternoon shadows began to fall across the ice still covering most of the surface of Tenaya Lake.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Pelican Flock, Waddell Creek Beach

June 19, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of pelicans turns toward Waddell Creek Beach along the Pacific coast of California.

This group was photographed a few seconds before I photographed the single overhead pelican that I posted a couple of days ago. Here the flock had turned back towards the land in preparation for rising to the edge of a much higher bluff just to the north.

Since I so recently described the circumstances of this shoot, I’ll keep this text short!

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

People on Descending Escalator, MoMA

June 18, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A group of people on the “down escalator” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

I couldn’t resist the idea of photographing the steady stream of distracted people coming down this escalator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. I employed a technique that I often use when shooting on the street, namely to find an interesting structural subject (in this case, the escalator) and then wait for the right person or people to occupy the frame. I made a series of photographs of people on this escalator, and ended up liking this one the most. There are a number of specific things about the people in the scene that attract my attention, but I’ll let you discover them on your own, should you be so inclined.

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

Pelican Against Blue Sky

June 17, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A low flying pelican passes overhead against clearing coastal fog and blue sky.

This pelican was part of a very large group that flew directly over my position along the Pacific Ocean coast north of Santa Cruz, California. One of the main tricks to photographing these wonderful bird – though not the only trick – is figuring out where to photograph them. They are very common along the coastline of “my” part of California, the area from just north of San Francisco south to the Big Sur area below Monterey and Carmel. But in many places you’ll watch them fly past too far out over the water, or below you such that they don’t make easy photographic targets. But by spending a bit of time along the coast, I’ve begun to understand their patterns a bit, and I now know a few places where I’m fairly likely to find them flying very close or even directly overhead.

We had spotted this group along the top of a bluff where they often fly by as they coast along on the updrafts from the onshore winds. (One thing I’ve never been able to figure out is that the almost always are flying from south to north. Are they taking the train back south so that they can repeat the trip? Do they just keep going? Do they only make on flight? It is a mystery to me!) We had just missed photographing this large flock as they came by, but I had a hunch that they might come down close to the water at a location just north where the road drops to a beach where a creek enters the ocean. So we headed there, parked the car, and a few minutes later we saw the flock appear around the cliffs to the south and descend toward the beach. As they came to our position they began to turn inland and climb towards the next bluff, and as this happened the birds flew directly over my position.

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