Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Paoha Island, Mono Lake

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Paoha Island, Mono Lake
The view across Mono Basin, including Mono Lake and Paoha Island

Paoha Island, Mono Lake. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The view across Mono Basin, including Mono Lake and Paoha Island.

The light in this scene appeals to me. Yes, the view itself is impressive, but the warm-colored early-morning light is especially lovely. It is also a bit deceptive. It probably looks like a warm high-desert day, but the truth was quite different. It was an extremely cold autumn morning, and as we drove we encountered temperatures as low as high single-digits at one point. Ah, that’s fall in the Eastern Sierra!

I made the photograph from a high point above the southwest shoreline of Mono Lake, on a hill that was easily accessible. The view follows the slope down toward the very blue surface of this hug lake, then continues across Paoho Island. Although it is blocked by the island, the water continues beyond it to the far shoreline, where gentle slopes that were once submerged when the lake was larger lead to mountains that surround the Mono Basin.

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: Nature, Photographs: Night

Evening Grove

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Evening Grove
A grove of old trees in late-autumn evening light

Evening Grove. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A grove of old trees in late-autumn evening light.

This is the second of several photographs that resulted from going to some local holiday festivities — a big garden and mansion decked out in holiday lights and more… but it sure doesn’t look like a holiday scene! After we arrived and parked our car we had to walk to the main facilities and along the way we passed this old grove. In the fading light (somewhat darker than the rendition in the photograph) it had a quality that was somewhere between slightly ominous and simply quiet and dark.

Typically I would probably use a tripod for a photograph like this one, but since our main reason for going to this event wasn’t necessarily to make photographs I did not have one, so I cranked up the ISO and held the camera very still!

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Big Sur River, Autumn

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Big Sur River, Autumn
Fallen leaves and trees along the banks of the Big Sur River.

Big Sur River, Autumn. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fallen leaves and trees along the banks of the Big Sur River.

There is a little lesson or reminder in this photograph that I made earlier this week along a quiet stretch of the Big Sur River. I had planned to head south to photograph along this coastline. This is my favorite time of year along the California coast — the season when the surf can be huge, lots of spray gets thrown up, and there are often interesting clouds. Oh, and there are far fewer tourists in this sometimes-crowded location. However, the light was not cooperating, at least not with my original plan of photographing grand coastal landscape. A Pacific weather front was on its way, and the sky was rather gray and there was some ugly atmospheric haze.

However, as is so often the case, light conditions that may not be wonderful for one subject can work to your advantage with another. The high clouds were still thin enough that they allowed somewhat directional but very diffused light to pass. While that may not be great for those long landscapes, this light can be beautiful inside forests, even during the daytime hours when more typical sunny conditions can produce the nearly unphotographable “pizza light.” So I started looking for different sorts of subjects, and I soon noticed the green water of this river and the bare trunks of these trees standing above a carpet of newly-fallen autumn leaves.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelican In Flight

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White Pelican In Flight
A white pelican in flight on a foggy Central Valley morning

White Pelican In Flight. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A white pelican in flight on a foggy Central Valley morning.

From time to time, as you may have realized if you have followed me for a while, I declare some bird to be my favorite. At various times the “favorite” has been the trumpeter swan, one or another type of egret, ibises, geese (snow? Ross’s?), sandhill cranes (they keep returning to the list), bald eagles, water ouzels, and others I am perhaps forgetting. OK, so I’m fickle! This year I’m starting to think that white pelicans may get the nod this year. For a long time I didn’t know about them. Then I recognized them but didn’t realize how common they are around here. Then I became more fascinated by their stand-offish manner, their lumbering flight, and their prehistoric quality.

As I photograph birds I gradually learn more about their behaviors, at least those that affect how I photograph them. I’ve learned of a few places where I can somewhat reliably find these birds on the ground, typically at a distance that is too great to photograph them well. But I’ve also learned that eventually they take flight, and I’ve figured out a few things about their likely trajectory, thus allowing me to place myself in position for a possible fly-over. That’s exactly what happened on this morning when, after watching them on the ground for some time, they took flight away from me (so as to take off into a slight headwind) and then circled back around to cross almost directly over my position.

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.

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