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

Dawn Geese, Sierra Silhouette

Image Leave a comment
Dawn Geese, Sierra Silhouette
“Dawn Geese, Sierra Silhouette” — Migratory geese fill the Central VAlley dawn sky above the silhouette of the Sierra Nevada.

Surprisingly, for those of us who love winter, spring can evoke some of the same bittersweet feelings that autumn evokes. The season of interesting weather, dramatic skies, and migratory birds is passing. With that in mind I made one more visit to the Central Valley to see if the birds had departed. Some had — I saw no sandhill cranes at all. But I was treated to a stupendous dawn fly-out of geese.

I half expected that snow geese and Ross’s geese would have left already. In the past they were there at the beginning of the month but gone before the Ides of March. I arrived before sunrise and saw no geese at all, but a few minutes later I heard a few in the distance. I headed that way, and soon tremendous fly-outs began all over the surrounding wetlands. Thousands of geese took off into the colorful cloudy sky above the distant Sierra Nevada during the next half hour. And then they were gone.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (Click the title to see the full article and to comment if you are viewing it on the home page.)

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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Ross’s Geese in Flight

Image Leave a comment
Ross's Geese in Flight
“Ross’s Geese in Flight” — Ross’s geese descend toward a wetland pond.

On our return trip from Death Valley in late February we took a short detour in California’s Central Valley to look for migratory geese. Their winter visit to the state is soon coming to an end, so I wanted to see them again this season. It was a quick stop, but we found our geese, and I made this photograph of a small flock of Ross’s geese descending toward a wetland pond.

when I first started photographing birds a couple of decades ago I had little idea what I was doing, but I did know that I wanted to photograph “snow geese.” (Ross’s geese aren’t snow geese, but they are very similar.) The photograph illustrates how much pictures of flocks of birds rely on luck. Note the two geese at lower right, positioned so that one does not obscure the view of the other’s head. Look at the positions of the two more distant geese behind the bird at lower left. And then note the the other four birds are also all positioned so that their heads are visible. You would almost think that they posed for me…

Leave a comment or question using the form. (Click the title to see the full article and to comment if you are viewing it on the home page.)

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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Displacement

Image Leave a comment
Displacement
“Displacement” — Cracked and broken dry desert mud, Death Valley.

Those who photograph in the desert inevitably end up photographing… mud. I was attracted to many things in this little scene. The fractal patterns themselves, are always fascinating. (Finding just the right patterns is more difficult than it should be!) In this case I also liked the disruption of the expected pattern by the displacement of material from one of the dried cakes of mud. It appears that something has broken the top layer, left shards to the right, and interrupted the overall coloration of the little scene.

I cannot quite say why it is that photographers are so interested in desert mud — but we definitely are. There is something about the patterns themselves, but also the way light plays across these textures. I recall one time walking down an Utah canyon with a half dozen photographer friends. We encountered a little patch of nearly dry mud, and our progress immediately halted as all of us unloaded packs, set up tripods, and went to work for the next half hour… photographing mud.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (Click the title to see the full article and to comment if you are viewing it on the home page.)

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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Panamint Sky

Image Leave a comment
Panamint Sky
“Panamint Sky” — Morning winter sky above the Panamint Range and Lake Manly.

Lake Manly, the ephemeral lake that appears in Death Valley’s Badwater Basin in unusually wet seasons, is gradually shrinking once again. It was very large in early 2025, and again quite large early this year. It is starting to dry out and it will likely begone soon. For now though, it is still impressive, especially if you stand at its edge early in the morning, and doubly so when clouds fill the sky.

I chose black and white for this photograph of the lake because monochromegives me a great deal of interpretive freedom, in many way s more so than with color. As a starting point, black and white never can claim to be an accurate representation of the world of colors, and this frees us from notions that a photograph must always aspire to look like what we saw. In this case, monochrome allows me to draw attention to this remarkable winter desert sky.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (Click the title to see the full article and to comment if you are viewing it on the home page.)

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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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