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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Wetlands

Image January 2, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning fog clearing above a California Central Valley wetlands pond.

This is perhaps not a spectacular, iconic scene — and that may be an understatement! The specific place is hardly significant beyond my personal familiarity with it, and you could easily find similar places all over California’s Central Valley, spots near rivers and other water sources where the water pools and forms marshes, either naturally or as a result of human planning. It can be difficult to persuade others to find the beauty in such seemingly-ordinary places, but over time that beauty does emerge.

This day started in thick tule fog that made it impossible to see more than a few hundred feet. Later in the morning the fog began to thin, and sunlight came through breaks in the low clouds. By the time I made the photograph it was more sunny than not, but the light was soft due to the remnants of that earlier fog. These ponds led off toward levees and… more water and trees.

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

Pacific Horizon, Weather Front

Image January 1, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cloud shadows on the surface of the Pacific Ocean as an incoming storm front darkens the skies above the horizon.

This is a familiar scene to me, as I’ve have been visiting this section of the California coast for decades. The location is along the Big Sur coast, though it could be any number of places where it is possible to get up high and find an open view toward the horizon and the sun. On this day there was a thin overcast from the leading edge of an incoming Pacific weather system, and it did a fine job of casting shadows on the water and muting the brightest reflections.

For me these scenes always encourage a certain kind of stillness and thoughtfulness. As a person who has spent next-to-no time on the ocean, looking across these immense distances toward the horizon causes me to ponder the scale of the Pacific Ocean. Lower down at the waters edge, my attention goes to sand and surf and rocks — but up higher it extends much further outward.

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

Two Trees, Big Sur River

Image December 31, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The trunks of two trees lean outwards over the Big Sur River.

My typical route down the Big Sur coast when I head out for a day of photography there takes has me primarily focusing on the coast itself — the headlands, bluffs, cliffs, beaches, sea stacks, and surf found along the Pacific Coast Highway. Partway down, perhaps a half hour or so below Carmel, the road jogs inland and follows the Big Sur River for a bit before rising over a saddle and starting a long descent back towards the ocean. I generally don’t do a lot of photography along this inland section… though I do know a few good places to stop for snacks, meals, and espresso!

This visit was a bit different. The light and atmosphere along the coast were affected by an incoming Pacific weather system. There was quite a bit of haze, and the light was interrupted by high clouds. Those conditions are typically less conducive to shooting “big landscapes,” but they can be very wonderful for photographing on a smaller scale, especially in forested areas where the light would otherwise be too contrasty. So I pulled off the road along the Big Sur River, walked a few feed down and embankment, and found a lovely and quiet section of the river when the water flowed smoothly over rocks and trees leaned over the river.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Conifers And Scrub Aspens

Image December 30, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Conifers among small autumn aspen trees, eastern Sierra Nevada.

This should be my final Sierra Nevada photograph that I’ll share in 2019… but expect more in the coming year! I’m using the term “scrub aspen” to refer to these small trees, even though it isn’t widely used. When we think of autumn aspen trees the taller and often straighter trees come to mind. But in the Sierra these trees come in an amazing range of shapes and sizes. Although they are rare, you can find the same tall and straight trees that you might associate with groves in places like Colorado, but trees that are more twisted are more common here. Many are not that large, and in some rocky areas they may be no taller than you are.

These smaller “scrub aspens” growing on rocky slopes frequently seem to be among the first to change colors in the fall. In fact, these were already fully covered in colorful leaves even though it was just a few days into October. (I generally regard the peak of Sierra aspen color as coming around the second week of the month.) I photographed this scene late in the day, when the sun had dropped behind the peaks of the Sierra crest, leaving this valley in shadow.

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