Sierra Passes Opening Soon

May 7, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sierra Journal reports that the opening of Sonora Pass is scheduled for May 22. This is significant for a number of reasons, including the following:

The availability of the Sonora Pass route considerably reduces the time/distance that SF Bay Area folks must drive to get to the eastern Sierra.
This suggests that other routes like Ebbetts and Monitor Pass will also be open at that time.
Tioga Pass often seems to open within about a week of the opening of Sonora. If that happens this time we could guess that Tioga might open before the end of May.

I’m ready!

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

Redwing Blackbird on Fence Post

May 7, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A male redwing blackbird perches atop a fence post on a foggy spring morning at Castillero Pond, Calero County Park.

This should be the last in the redwing blackbird series for a while – yet another photographed on a foggy morning at Castillero Pond at Calero Park. This photograph shows a male redwing though the characteristic red patch on the shoulder or top of the wing is not so easy to see in this shot is it is when the bird is engaged in display behavior.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: male, redwing, blackbird, bird, avian, perch, stand, atop, top, fence, fencepost, post, lichen, spring, season, morning, fog, cloud, grass, castillero, pond, calero, county, park, santa clara, california, usa, wildlife, nature, stock

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

Female Redwing Blackbird

May 6, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A female redwing blackbird perches among reeds on a foggy morning at Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California.

At this point I almost feel like I know these birds personally. I photograph and hike at this location (Calero County Park) almost every week throughout the year, and every hike begins at a trailhead that takes me right past Castillero Pond which is often crowded with birds – the occasional egret but almost always many redwing blackbirds.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: bird, avian, redwing, blackbird, bird, female, perch, branch, reed, grass, pond, morning, fog, cloud, castillero, calero, hills, county, park, santa clara, california, usa, wildlife, nature, spring, foggy, stock

Ideas, Morning Musings

About Shooting the Familiar

May 5, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I was just thinking a bit more about today’s photograph and how it (I hope!) illustrates something I’ve learned about my own photography – as much as I like to visit and photograph new places, I think that I enjoy more getting to photography and know more deeply a few places that I visit regularly.

The photograph was made in a place I’ve visited literally dozens of times… in the past year alone. I’ve walked past this exact spot carrying my photo gear too many times to count. I’ve even stopped and looked at this spot and thought about making a photograph more than once. On a couple of occasions I have made a photograph, only to realize that I hadn’t quite figured out how to shoot this little scene.

But I keep going back to this now-familiar place. Sometimes a visit turns out to be a bust photographically, and I just return with the benefits of some quiet time walking in the hills. On another trip I may discover a new thing – rock, tree, view, bird – that I hadn’t seen before. On this morning – a foggy morning like many others I’ve seen in almost this exact spot – several things came together at once, unexpectedly, and it a way that will likely never be repeated. The hills were still a bit green but with enough brown to suggest the familiar colors of the approaching California summer. A few flowers were blossoming in the foreground. The atmosphere was in that magical state halfway between fog and sunlight, and the light through the moving fog created some definition on the hills and grass.

I happened to be in this very familiar spot at the right moment in time, happened to look up, and happened to see something in this scene that I had probably not seen until this day… and I got a photograph of this familiar place that I like because I was there, I know the place well, and I was attentive to my surroundings.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Sierra Passes Opening Soon

About Shooting the Familiar

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