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

Fennel, Distant Birds, Morning

February 16, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Early morning light on a row of fennel plants with migratory birds passing in the distance, Central Valley, California.

If you don’t look closely, fennel is a pretty nondescript plant, especially during the dry season when it more or less goes dormant and consists mostly of dry twigs and branches and a few dry seeds. I never paid much attention to it at all when I was younger, despite spending a lot of time in the California outdoors, where the plant is very common. I think the first time that I actually noticed it was some years ago when I was surprised to smell the familiar fragrance of anise (as in licorice) while hiking or running along a local trail. I stopped and noticed the familiar seeds that I had used in cooking, picked a few, crushed them, and noticed that powerful smell. (There is a group of plants found in outdoor California that often cause me to stop and engage in this ritual of picking a leaf or seed, crushing it, and enjoying the scent: fennel, bay/laurel, sage…)

True to form, I wasn’t really paying much attention to these plants growing along the boundary between a Central Valley road and a flooded field where I had stopped to make photographs of migratory birds in late January. It may actually be the case that I only really “saw” them when my camera’s AF system “incorrectly” locked focus on the plants instead of more distant subjects! But this shot was not an accident. At this point I had noticed the plants and they became the subject, with relief from cross light from the rising sun and against the background of hazy early morning sky.

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.

Deals and Sales, Software

Super Deal on Adobe Lightroom or Elements – $69.95 for 24 Hours Only

February 15, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

(Updated: Lightroom Elements is also available today at the same price. See below for link.)

If you have been considering Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows for your photography post-processing and organizing needs, right now might be a good time to buy it. Site-sponsor has the application on sale right now for only $69.95 – but the price is only good today only. You can make a purchase from B&H via the link in this post. (Note: This price expired on February 15, 2012.)

Update: Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 & Premiere Elements 10 for Mac & Windows is also eligible for the $69.95 pricing.

Lightroom can be the only photo processing software that many users will need, and for others it can be part of a workflow that includes other software such as Photoshop. (This price is even a few dollars below the usual academic price, so student and faculty users may also want to take advantage of this offer.)

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

Ross’s Geese in Flight, Central Valley Evening

February 15, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A large flock of Ross’s geese takes flight in the sunset sky above Central Valley ponds, California.

Yes. More geese. And I’m sure that before the season ends there will be yet more still. (I have some images tucked away in my mind that I would like to try to convert into actual photographs this year if I can get back out to the Central Valley in the right sort of conditions.) The object here was to try to capture the rising flock filling the sky in this beautiful early evening light.

I think I admitted recently that I’m a newcomer when it comes to these birds. Although I’ve spend years in the outdoors of California, I somehow managed to almost completely miss the annual bird migration much less get a remote sense of its scale and beauty. At some point in the past decade or so I had my first real encounter with the birds that gave me a clue that something I needed to know about was going on. It was an early winter evening – I believe it was on the first evening of a long November drive up highway 5 to Seattle. I was well up the Sacramento Valley as twilight arrived, and for some reason I had stopped – probably pulled out at one of the roadside rest stops. I heard the sound and looked up and saw giant flocks of birds (of what type I hadn’t a clue) stretched out against the sky, and that moment stuck with me. Then last year a chance meeting with a colleague at the espresso stand at my college led me to look for the birds more seriously. As we stood in line, my friend mentioned that she had seen my photography and said something about the birds. I asked where they were, if I recall correctly, and she gave me directions to a place a ways south of Sacramento. I had originally had different plans, but the next morning I headed up there very early, arrived to a completely fogged-in road, but the sound of the birds all around me and occasional misty glimpses of sandhill cranes throughout the fog had me hooked. This year I’ve already been out there several times and I’m ready to go again!

Commentary, Ideas

The Significance of Very Small Things

February 14, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

I thought that I would use today’s photograph (posted lower on the home page if that is where you are reading this) to again illustrate an observation or two about certain types of photographs. The photograph is a of a landscape scene in California’s Central Valley, photographed during in the evening during the winter migratory bird season. Its primary feature is a group of trees silhouetted against an evening sky, with the sky and the silhouette reflected in the water of a pond. The tree is centered, for several reasons perhaps, but largely to create a sense of stillness and balance.

But there is a small element in the scene that, I think, makes a huge difference – two small owls perched high in the branches along the right side of the trees. To see what I mean, take a look at the photograph, and then place a finger so that it just covers the owls without hiding much else in the frame. Think about how the absence of the owls transforms the scene… and then uncover the owls and think about how this very tiny bit of black changes the effect of the photograph. (I could also say something about how the fact that there are two tiny owls is also significant. And on Valentine’s Day, no less… ;-)

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not arguing that landscape images should necessarily include people or other creatures in this way. Sometimes that is appropriate and at other times it would not be, and most of my photographs do not include them. However, I continue to be amazed by how significantly a very small figure of an animal or a human can completely alter the way we respond to the scene.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Fennel, Distant Birds, Morning

Super Deal on Adobe Lightroom or Elements – $69.95 for 24 Hours Only

The Significance of Very Small Things

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