Category Archives: Photographs: Central California

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Tree, Fog, Dawn Sky

Leave a comment
Tree, Fog, Dawn Sky
Tree, Fog, Dawn Sky

Tree, Fog, Dawn Sky. San Joaquin Valley, California. March 9, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A lone tree on pasture land of a foggy late-winter morning with pre-dawn clouds, San Joaquin Valley

Back near the beginning of March in this year that seems to have brought an early end to winter I headed out to the Central Valley to do what was likely my last migratory bird photography of the season. When I left the San Francisco Bay Area well before dawn for the trip out to the valley the skies were clear, and I was just a bit disappointed in that I prefer at least a bit of fog for this subject. The fog gods must have heard me, since as I neared my first location in a low-lying and often wet area of the valley, fog began to collect just before sunrise. It was that wonderful sort of fog that is almost opaque, but which moves around and changes enough that at least some of the time nearby subjects are visible and it is possible to see early morning clouds in the sky above.

Although my plan was to photograph birds, at first I didn’t see the birds I was most interested in (sandhill cranes and Ross’s geese), so I kept moving and eventually ended up in this flat pasture area where a few isolated trees stood along on newly green ground, with groves of trees beyond and the soft shapes of early morning clouds overhead. This soft light is a special feature of this area in the cool, damp season, and it characterizes my experience with this place. Before long the fog began to thin, the sun came out, and I found birds to photograph.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Young Elephant Seals

Leave a comment
Young Elephant Seals
Young Elephant Seals

Young Elephant Seals. Coastal California. February 18, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of young elephant seals along the California coast

Back in mid-February we took a day to make a very long looping drive from the San Francisco Bay Area down to almost Morro Bay and then back up the coast highway along the Big Sur coastline. The plan was to both visit the elephant seal areas near the southern end of this drive and to also look for landscape photography opportunities. Starting out early in the morning, it looked like the rainy weather to our north might not follow us south… but we were wrong. It was cloudy the whole way down, and when we arrived at this coastal elephant seal “nursery” it rained intermittently. Sometimes rain can be wonderful for landscape photography, but somehow this rain wasn’t quite playing out that way, so we focused on the wildlife instead. (Later, the weather did offer up some very interesting light as the weather began to break further up the coast.)

The area where I photographed these elephant seals is a well-known one right along the highway and, as expected, there were quite a few other people there to get close up looks at these impressive creatures. At this time of year there are large bulls, nursing mothers, young animals (that appear to me to be more or less adolescents), and nursing pups. Compared to certain times of the year when the bulls are jousting and fighting, things seemed rather calm. For the most part the seals seemed to largely be lounging around on the sand. We walked the opposite direction from the large crowd and found some good overlooks from which the seals could easily be photographed with long lenses. In places there were groups of these younger animals clustered closely together, presenting an image that seemed anthropomorphically “cute.” But don’t be fooled – these are pretty tough creatures that seem to lead a tough and challenging life.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Red-Winged Blackbirds in Flight

Leave a comment
Red-Winged Blackbirds in Flight - A large flock of red-winged blackbirds flushes from the brush and takes flight over the San Joaquin Valley, California
A large flock of red-winged blackbirds flushes from the brush and takes flight over the San Joaquin Valley, California

Red-Winged Blackbirds in Flight. San Joaquin Valley, California. November 25, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large flock of red-winged blackbirds flushes from the brush and takes flight over the San Joaquin Valley, California

I first started traveling to and photographing these areas in the California Central Valley because I was looking for sandhill cranes. I quickly discovered the other large migratory birds, especially the geese. But as I go back more often I see more and more things that are worth photographing. On this visit I had a bit of midday time to kill so I decided to go look at a new (to me) wildlife area.

The area is not far from another wildlife area, where I have most often photographed in this part of the valley. My initial thinking was that it might be an alternative location in which to look for the same flocks of Ross’s geese that I find nearby, but the staff people at the visitor center suggested otherwise. They did mention one area further north in the reserve where people had reported good bird viewing, so I decided to take a look. I didn’t see any geese there during my short visit, but I did see a bunch of other interesting birds, including this large and active flock of red-winged blackbirds, who obligingly lined themselves up to display the bright red areas along the base of their wings.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelican Flock

4 Comments
White Pelican Flock
White Pelican Flock

White Pelican Flock. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 1, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of white pelicans in flight above the San Joaquin Valley, California

To file in the “learn something new every day” file… this year I learned that the brown pelicans that I so often photograph along the California coastline are not the only pelicans in the state. I had no idea that pelicans could be found inland in the Central Valley, nor that there was another type found here, the white pelican. My first encounter was almost humorous in retrospect. On an extremely foggy morning out in the valley, when birds were audible but often not seen, at one point a small group of mysterious birds floated out of the fog silently, coasted past, and quickly disappeared into the murk. I had no idea what I had seen, but I remember thinking that they looked a lot like pelicans but that they must not be since – wrong! – pelicans aren’t in the Central Valley. Later that day one of my compatriots asked, “Did you see the white pelicans?” I guess I had!

In the area where I photographed this group the primary large birds are Ross’s geese, and there are many thousands of those. There seems to be pretty much a single group of white pelicans and more or less the whole group is visible in this photograph. Here they arrived from the south, again silently floated in over the ponds full of noisy geese, and then dropped down out in the middle of this area where they were too far away to be clearly seen. I was impressed to see so many of them flying together.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.