Rethinking Social Media

Image February 17, 2025 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

For many reasons that I will not enumerate here at the current moment, I am pulling back much of my social media presence. I have deleted the content of my Twitter account, and I am in the process of doing the same with material on the META platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

I do not take this step lightly. Over the years (almost decades with Facebook) I have built friendships on these platforms, enjoyed seeing the photography of many colleagues and friends, and learned a lot.

I greatly appreciate the thousands of people who have followed my photography on those platforms, and I’m grateful for their support, friendship, likes, comments, and shares.

A part of me feels badly about what may seem to them like I’m cutting them off. I deeply regret that, but please trust that I have principled reasons for taking these steps.

One follower wrote, “I’ll miss seeing your photographs!” But there’s good news! You don’t have to miss them! You can still see the photographs and descriptions and more and you can comment, too at the following:

HERE at gdanmitchell.com, of course. (Click post titles to read and comment. Subscribe using “subscribe” box below and on each page.)
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gdanmitchell.com where a dynamic photography community is building.
Mastadon: https://sfba.social/@gdanmitchell
Substack: I post daily substack “notes” with photos at https://gdanmitchell.substack.com/notes.
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gdanmitchell/ where two decades of my photography is available.

Hope you’ll follow me here and/or at one or more of these!

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands Sunrise

Image February 17, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Bird photography is my excuse for going to this place in the winter months, but this winter landscape is the main attraction. I love what happens here during the spells of thick tule fog, when the landscape is obscured and the light becomes soft and mysterious. Here the rising sun colors the sky above the fog, which in turn makes the fog glow luminously.

To look at this scene, you might imagine that it is warm — at least the colors are! But it was a typically cold morning, likely in the thirties, with damp fog making it feel even colder. The fog had been thicker before the sun came up, but when I made the photograph it was beginning to thin. (If you look closely you may spot a few migratory birds just above the rising sun.)

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.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Central Park, Trees, Snow

Image February 16, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I seem to attract “interesting” weather when I visit New York City. Part of this may be my predilection for visiting in August when, as any New Yorker knows, the weather is atrocious. (There’s a reason that August is a traditional vacation month for residents of the city.) For years we also tended to visit over the holiday break, when the weather can be very cold, at least by California standards. I made this photograph during our recent December visit.

I have been told by people who live there that snow isn’t that common until after the New Year. But we had a morning of light snow just before Christmas. To be honest, it was a treat for us, and we went for a couple of long walks in Central Park to enjoy the wintry scene. The photograph looks through a grove of winter-dormant trees towards the tall buildings of Manhattan.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands, First Light

Image February 15, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yes, I’m still working the winter Central Valley photographs — and I’m not done yet! As I have said many times, this is probably my favorite winter subject. Or perhaps I should write “subjects,” since these locations offer both landscape and wildlife photography subjects at this time of year. Although they are not featured in this photograph, this is a prime part of California for winter migratory birds.

You can never predict with certainty what the fog will do on these winter mornings. The surprise this time was a “hole” that opened in the fog, producing clear skies in our little area while our surroundings were still obscured. This photograph looks east, across a pond and the fog bank, toward the first dawn light above the Sierra Nevada.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Rethinking Social Media

Wetlands Sunrise

Central Park, Trees, Snow

Wetlands, First Light

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