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, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Birds, Fog, Dawn

March 31, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Birds fly over foggy Central Valley wetlands at dawn on a winter day

It is only the last day of March… and I’m already missing these winter wetlands with fog and the sound of birds. These places are found up and down California’s Great Central Valley, and each has its own personality. I know I can find eagles at one, night herons at another, cranes at several of them, and huge flocks of Ross’s and snow geese and yet another.

In my view, the best days at these refuges begin before dawn. The air should be cold — at or just below freezing is about right — and there must be at least some fog in the air. I favor thick fog that gradually clears as the morning develops, though on this morning it was thinning even as the sunrise began. The raucous sounds of the birds — mostly geese and cranes — are everywhere, and here and there small groups take off and fly past. If a faint view of the High Sierra emerges, as in this photograph, it is even better.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dormant Trees, Granite

March 30, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A granite cliff towers above dormant trees along the Merced River, Yosemite Valley

Winter can produce a softer and subtler Yosemite Valley, one that can sometimes be just a bit tricky to photograph. Perhaps the most obvious subjects in the winter are found on days when there is snow, or when storm clouds and mists shroud the cliffs and ridges. As a matter of fact, those are the things I’m usually hoping to find when I visit the Valley at this time of year.

But the true nature of the Valley in winter includes some subtler subjects, sometimes nearly devoid of the greens of spring and summer or the colors of fall. Truth be told, the meadows are brown and trees lose their leaves, the clouds can block or filter the light, and many sections of the surrounding cliffs can be in shadow. This photograph is such a scene — winter dormant trees along the banks of the Merced River, brown meadows underneath and stretching beyond, and the steel-gray colors of shadowed granite above.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

21 Choices

March 29, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A Pasadena street corner on a winter afternoon

To some extent, although I’ll write a bit about it, this is one of those photographs that you’ll need to sort out for yourself. It may seem like a snapshot, or it may seem like something else, or it might seem like both.

Just after New Years Day we went to Southern California for a few days, driving down the Coast Highway (before the winter storms closed it) and then visiting areas at the northern and southern ends of the Los Angeles Basin. We stayed in Pasadena, a place I hadn’t visited for a while and one that I don’t know all that well, aside from the typical Californian’s knowledge of a place that comes from driving past on freeways. Because we had some unscheduled time we ended up wandering in downtown Pasadena a bit, and I had time to begin to get a bit of a feeling for the place, at least as it is in mid-winter light of the sort in this photograph.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Bridal Veil, Ice and Mist

March 28, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Bridal Veil fall with winter ice and mist

Many photographic subjects in Yosemite Valley are quite dependent on time of day, season, weather conditions, and other variables, some of which are completely beyond the photographer’s control. You simply must, first of all, be there, and then you must try to predict (or know) when the odds are better, be attentive to special conditions, and sometimes be ready to act quickly.

This is not exactly the rarest of conditions, but several pieces had to occur together to produce this scene. First, it had to be winter and it had to be cold — and the latter is less a certainty in California during the past few years. Second, despite the cold, it had to be warm enough somewhere up above to melt sufficient snow to get Bridal Veil Creek flowing at a pretty high rate for this time of year. Third, the light had to come over the lip of the canyon at the top of the wall to illuminate the rising mist but not the fall itself. Finally, if you look closely, you might notice three (somewhat blurry) ravens flying between the trees.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

All posts by G Dan Mitchell

Birds, Fog, Dawn

Dormant Trees, Granite

21 Choices

Bridal Veil, Ice and Mist

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