Category Archives: Photographs: Central California

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

Big Sur Coast, Clearing Fog

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Big Sur Coast, Clearing Fog
Clearing fog pulls back to the upper slopes of coastal hills along the Big Sur coast.

Big Sur Coast, Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clearing fog pulls back to the upper slopes of coastal hills along the Big Sur coast.

As we follow the California “shelter-in-place” order, I’m photographing very locally and to digging back into my raw file archives. I try to do the latter at least once per year, and I am just now reviewing the 2019 files. Every time I do this I discover photographs that I originally overlooked or that I neglected as I moved on to other projects. I’m convinced that we see our own photographs differently a year or two later, and photographs that were not quite what we thought we wanted originally turn out to be interesting when viewed without the context of having just made them.

This photograph comes from a one-day visit to the Big Sur coastline just a few days short of a year ago. I remember it well. It was a day of tricky and challenging light as an early spring weather front moved down the coast. I traveled quickly, trying to stay near the leading edge of the clouds. At this spot just south of the town of Big Sur the surface of the Pacific Ocean glowed brilliantly in muted sun, the steep cliffs were in shadow, and fog was clearing from the upper slopes of coastal mountains.

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: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetland Trees, Dawn Fog

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Wetland Trees, Dawn Fog
Dawn tule fog begins to clear over Central Valley wetlands and trees.

Wetland Trees, Dawn Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn tule fog begins to clear over Central Valley wetlands and trees.

This wetland copse (new word, anyone?) has almost become something of an old friend. Every winter I photograph in locations like this one, and as I circumnavigate this area’s wetland ponds I look forward to this spot, where I almost always spot a raptor perched on the top of the solitary branch. There are other things in this scene that you might miss, too. If you look closely you can perhaps see a lighter area just beyond the base of the foreground trees. A large flock of white geese is settled there. The subtly colored leaves are the last vestige of fall color.

I made the photograph not long after dawn, on one of those magical mornings when tule fog blanketed the landscape and was just beginning to thin. a bit. Tule fog can be very dense but also very shallow, and simultaneously renders the surrounding landscape opaque while allowing the glow and color of the early morning sky to gently light the scene.

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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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: Nature

Clearing Fog, Late-Winter Grasslands

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Clearing Fog, Late-Winter Grasslands
Morning fog thins above late-winter Central Valley grassland and floodplain.

Clearing Fog, Late-Winter Grasslands. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog thins above late-winter Central Valley grassland and floodplain.

Before I write about today’s photograph, I want to make a brief comment about “carrying on” in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, and why I continue to share photographs and stories. We need reminders of how the world was before this started… and how it will be again afterwards. And we certainly need distraction from the constant news. I hope that some of you will find a bit of joy, solace, distraction in these posts.

It was less than a week ago when I made what may be my last long photography excursion for a while. With the winter migratory bird season coming to an end in California, I wanted to make one more visit to a wildlife refuge where I often photograph. So I headed toward the Central Valley before dawn, arriving before sunrise, and spending most of the day on the prowl for birds at this peaceful and quiet place.

I believe I arrived for the very end of this season’s migratory bird photography. The large groups of sandhill cranes, Ross’s geese, and snow geese of a week ago were gone, and only a few stragglers remained. There were still white-fronted geese, ibises, egrets, and a few others. Because of the smaller number of birds, I left the refuge and the surrounding agricultural area. I stopped along a raised roadway where a river flows through oak/grassland floodplain country where early spring plants were coming to life, and I made a few photographs as the fog thinned and a few flocks of birds flew past.

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.

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.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Social Distancing

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Social Distancing
Late-winter dawn light relfected in a California Central Valley pond.

Social Distancing. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late-winter dawn light refected in a California Central Valley pond.

This week our vocabularies expanded to include new terms, such as “social distancing.” We didn’t chose this scenario, but it chose us and here we are. Looking out for ourselves and the rest of human society will disrupt our normal routines for a while. But life goes on, and part of that life for me involves photography. I know. Other things are more important. But let’s leave a bit of space for activities that allow us to experience moments of normalcy in the midst of circumstances that are not normal at all.

Yesterday I decided to head out to a quiet place where there would be few other people. I loaded my car with supplies so that I wouldn’t have to stop along the way, headed out well before dawn, and a couple hours later I was in a familiar, quiet place. The best thing that happened? Just after I arrived, a couple of dear friends showed up, too! We elbow-bumped (another of the new social practices) and went off to photograph one more beautiful dawn.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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