Category Archives: Photographs: Central California

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese, Autumn Sky

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Geese, Autumn Sky
Geese return to Central Valley wetlands under dramatic autumn sky.

Geese, Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Geese return to Central Valley wetlands under dramatic autumn sky.

This has been a strange autumn in California in a host of ways. The state has been contending with the effects of warmer and drier conditions and declining precipitation for at least a decade now, and late-autumn is now part of the wildfire season, a time that used to terminate with the first late-October rains. In my part of California, where the rains usually get going in November and December is one of the three core rainy months., we have had almost no precipitation at all. You’ll pardon us if we spend a lot of time watching the sky and hoping for real weather to arrive.

A week ago I spent some time in the Great Central Valley making photographs. I had been putting off my visits because I prefer “interesting weather,” and there really wasn’t any. I finally went there because there was the tiniest chance of a little bit of fog and because, well, it looked like that would be the best we’d see for a while. The morning was nice — the true fog did not materials, but there was a beautiful softness in the atmosphere anyway. But late in the day it just became… gray… as a cloud shield from a weather front came in from the west. I almost left, and I had actually mostly packed up, when I decided that I might as well stick around a bit longer since I was there. It turned out to be the right decision. One development was something familiar to me from past evenings — as the light moved to the west the hazy atmosphere became more transparent and, like a stage scene illuminated behind a scrim, the shapes of the western clouds became clearer as geese arrived to settle into a nearby pond.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

The Perch

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The Perch
A hawk perches on the topmost branch of a wetland copse beneath Central Valley autumn sky.

The Perch. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A hawk perches on the topmost branch of a wetland copse beneath Central Valley autumn sky.

This little clump of wetland trees is very familiar to me at this point, since I’ve photographed in this area for several years, typically during late autumn and winter months. I like to claim I go to photograph birds (yes, it is true) — but I also go to see and photograph the atmosphere and landscape of this corner of California’s Great Central Valley. One near constant with this copse is that there is virtually always at least one raptor perched on the highest branches.

This past week I understood a bit more another reason to go to such places. During the pandemic and its attendant travel restrictions, we’re all spending a lot more time in a very localized area around our homes, and for most of us that means that we are not seeing the expansive views that place like this offer. I’ve missed the wide-open sky and the big landscapes — and even short visits are therapeutic. For many of us it isn’t necessary to travel to a faraway location and a day or even an afternoon may be enough.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

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

Sur Point, Cliff, Autumn

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Sur Point, Cliff, Autumn
“Sur Point, Cliff, Autumn” — Looking south into brilliant autumn light over Big Sur cliffs and Sur Point.

This photograph was made from the same location as the one I shared yesterday and, obviously, it includes the same primary subject. That is Sur Point, just north of the town of Big Sur and the location of the historic Sur Point Lighthouse. I was in that area recently, spending a welcome day in the presence of big vistas, big surf, and the autumn coastal light.

The other photograph focused more on the sky above the Pacific Ocean, placing the Point and a bit of surf close to the bottom of the frame in order include more of that gigantic sky. As an alternative interpretation I also aimed the camera lower to produce a composition that included the dark foreground cliffs just below my position. The curve of the dark foreground seemed to lead toward the peninsula holding Point Sur and to contrast with the brilliant light in the misty, back-lit atmosphere above the water.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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

Sur Point, Autumn Sky

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Sur Point, Autumn Sky
Precursor clouds from an incoming weather front in the sky above Sur Point.

Sur Point, Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Precursor clouds from an incoming weather front in the sky above Sur Point.

The mound at the lower right in this photograph is Sur Point, the site of an old lighthouse facility along the Big Sur coast of California. The historic facility has been there for a long time. From what I understand it was originally so isolated that the families that manned the facility had to grow their own food, and they were resupplied only occasionally and by ship. The point sits on a low peninsula, connected to the mainland only by a low, sandy spit of land.

This photograph embodies several things that attract me to portions of this rugged (though today quite accessible) coastline. It sits at the western edge of a continent populated by a people whose history included (largely but not exclusively) arrival here at the far end of journeys from the east. (Today it just be acknowledged that an increasing number arrived by other paths and that before those of us with shorter histories here arrived others had been here for millennia.) Here, as we look over the eastern edge of the world’s largest ocean, there is a sense of vast, monumental space — something that I like and have not been able to experience as much as I would like during the pandemic.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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