Category Archives: Photographs: Central California

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Trees, New Grass, Tule Fog

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Trees, New Grass, Tule Fog
Light filters through Central Valley tule fog along a tree-lined gravel road.

Trees, New Grass, Tule Fog. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light filters through Central Valley tule fog along a tree-lined gravel road.

A foggy morning like this one has distinct phases. I like them all, but this point of transition is often a favorite. Frequently the morning begins, for me at least, well before dawn as I drive down some slender two-lane road between fields, unable to see more than a hundred feed ahead. The photography often begins as the first light starts to diffuse into the fog. (It happens faster than you might expect since the tule fog layer is usually quite shallow.) After sunrise the fog will eventually clear, though it may take hours before it breaks tip enough to let light create shadows.

I made this photograph at that point — when the fog may be thick in one spot but thin in another nearby, and directional light and soft shadows begin to appear. This road could be almost anywhere in the Great Central Valley of California, though it is a particular one that I know quite well. Here I may spot geese or cranes (and perhaps cattle!) to the left and blackbirds or an occasional own in the trees to the right.

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, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese, Fog, Rising Sun

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Geese, Fog, Rising Sun
A flock of geese flies through winter sky above tule fog and rising sun.

Geese, Fog, Rising Sun. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of geese flies through winter sky above tule fog and rising sun.

My favorite California winter conditions tend towards early mornings with thick tule fog that mutes light and sound — especially if it is cold, the surroundings are relatively natural, and birds are nearby. Every year as winter approaches I anticipate the first morning pre-dawn arrival at such a place, opening my car door, staring into the darkness, and hearing the sound of thousands of birds.

This was one of those mornings, and somewhat unexpectedly so. I watch weather forecasts in order to schedule visits when the fog appears. I had been watching for over a week, seeing endless reports of perfectly clear weather. (You may gather that such weather is what I least want.) But one evening when I checked again, a forecast now suggested the possibility of a couple of hours of early morning fog… and that was enough for me to change plans, get up hours before dawn, and give it a try. I made this photograph moments after sunrise, when the sun was barely visible though the low fog and birds flew overhead.

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

Winter Green

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Winter Green
California winter grasses spout in January, San Francisco Bay Area

Winter Green. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

California winter grasses sprout in January, San Francisco Bay Area.

Today I break up the stream of recent photographs from more far-flung travels to share a very local photograph that I made this week right in my “own backyard” here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have hiked these local hills for decades, and these grasslands and oaks are in my blood by now — they are old friends. The specific location isn’t important, and you can find places like this all over California.

My reason for going out today was not photography — it was the hike. But like a good photographer I stuck a small camera and a lens in my pack. As I rounded a bend on the trail I was presented with this classic California winter scene of trees and shadows falling across a hillside with brand new grass — the very beginning fo California’s “impossible green season.” When much of the rest of the country is still deep in winter, here our terrain is just beginning to turn green.

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

Winter Sunset

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Winter Sunset
Sunset in California’s Central Valley, on a winter evening with a weather front approaching.

Winter Sunset. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset in California’s Central Valley, on a winter evening with a weather front approaching.

I often ponder the California landscapes that are not so widely known, at least not among visitors to the state who are (justifiably) attracted to better know subjects: San Francisco, LA, well-known spots in the Sierra, the Big Sur coast, perhaps desert locations such as Death Valley. I guess that we Californians can be grateful that we get to keep a few of these less obvious spots for ourselves!

The Great Central Valley, stretching from just below Mount Shasta in the north to the mountains ringing the northern edge of the LA Basin in the south, and bounded on the east by the Sierra and the west by interior ranges is such a place. It is huge — hundreds of miles long and many tens of miles across — but even though it is one of the most rapidly growing regions of the state, many people mostly know it from driving through, not from pausing. This photograph comes from a winter evening when an incoming Pacific weather front was just starting to cloud up the western sky.

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.

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