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: Night

Holiday Lights, Tree And Wall

Image December 25, 2019 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Holiday lights attached to a tree in front of a brick wall.

Happy Holidays to you and your friends and family!

This may seem like (once again!) a somewhat unusual image for this time of year, but its source was in a visit to a Christmas event at a local historical location featuring impressive gardens decked out in holiday lighting and a huge mansion that is now a more or less public space. While the photograph is black and white, I like to think that the conjunction of light and dark is a feature of this winter time of year.

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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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Road

Image December 24, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A gravel road under foggy skies winds among cottonwood trees and other Central Valley autumn foliage.

The natural attractions of California’s Great Central Valley can be a bit more subtle that those of, say, the coast, the Sierra, the redwoods, or the great desert landscapes. This area lacks, for the most part, the spectacular features of those other places. (Though it can provide rather striking views of the Sierra, the coastal mountains, and even Mount Shasta when the conditions are right.) It is mostly a flat place, and most of what we see along the main highways is agricultural land.

But by getting off the main highways, slowing down, and looking around a bit it is possible to find some beautiful and quiet subjects out here. They can be related to the agricultural scene — especially if you can look past “factory farms” — and they can also be found in areas where there is water along rivers or in the wetlands. This photograph comes from the latter, an area where nearby wetland ponds support abundant wildlife, especially in the winter. This day began in thick fog, and I made the photograph as it was starting to thin and break up, adding some texture to the sky and producing soft, directional light on the trees along this rural roadway.

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Photographs: Central California

Late-Autumn Coastal Forest

Image December 23, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Big Sur River runs past late-autumn deciduous forest.

Scenes like this one are actually easy to find all over coastal California and even at many inland locations. These low elevation forests, especially those where the climate is moderated by proximity to the Pacific Ocean, tend to be quiet and gentle places. As such, it is easy to overlook them, especially when far more dramatic landscapes about.

In fact, on this December day I found myself here after realizing that the conditions were far from ideal for photographing some of those nearby dramatic landscapes. The gray skies of an incoming Pacific weather front made the long views at the coast less than exciting, so I headed a few miles inland and found this beautiful section of the Big Sur River, where the water flowed past quietly and autumn big leaf maple leaves littered the ground.

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Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Paoha Island, Mono Lake

Image December 22, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The view across Mono Basin, including Mono Lake and Paoha Island.

The light in this scene appeals to me. Yes, the view itself is impressive, but the warm-colored early-morning light is especially lovely. It is also a bit deceptive. It probably looks like a warm high-desert day, but the truth was quite different. It was an extremely cold autumn morning, and as we drove we encountered temperatures as low as high single-digits at one point. Ah, that’s fall in the Eastern Sierra!

I made the photograph from a high point above the southwest shoreline of Mono Lake, on a hill that was easily accessible. The view follows the slope down toward the very blue surface of this hug lake, then continues across Paoho Island. Although it is blocked by the island, the water continues beyond it to the far shoreline, where gentle slopes that were once submerged when the lake was larger lead to mountains that surround the Mono Basin.

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