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

Great Blue Heron in Flight

January 8, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A great blue heron flies above San Joaquin Valley wetlands

This photograph may tend more toward “clinical” than toward “evocative,” but I was happy to have a chance to photograph such a bird this closely as it flew past. The great blue heron is the largest bird that I typically get to photograph in the San Joaquin Valley wetlands where that I visit so often in the late fall and winter.

This bird is not exactly rare, though it is less plentiful than the white egrets that we often see near wetlands. The heron usually is seen alone, often in areas similar to those that attract the egrets, though also perhaps a bit more likely to be in dry fields. Most of the time they stand relatively still and they don’t show obvious signs of being upset or annoyed by the presence of humans… unless you get too close. The boundary between “that’s OK” and “that’s too close” is hard to determine, except that if you cross it the great bird quickly takes to the air and flies away from you.

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

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Trees, Valley

January 7, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A grove of autumn aspen trees follows the path of a Sierra Nevada valley

I’ve had this one sitting on my virtual desktop for some time now, and I suppose it is time to share it! Some who photograph a lot in the eastern Sierra may know the location, though the specifics are probably not all that important. Here, as in other locations on the “East Side,” a river of aspen trees runs down a shallow water-course that drops from a ridge to a lake through sage brush country.

The photograph was made a bit earlier than usual for this location, in this fifth (and, as I write this, hopefully final?) year of California’s recent great five-year drought. This has affected the entire state, including the patterns of fall color along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra, where (to make a long story short) some trees have changed much earlier than usual and others have died. This familiar spot changed early, and I was fortunate to be there on this date when I would usually not be looking to photograph aspen color.

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

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

Winter Wetlands and Sky

January 6, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ross’s geese flock on California Central Valley winter wetlands

To simplify, there are two common conditions in California’s Central Valley in winter: dense tule fog that reduces the visibility to mere feet, and immense open skies above the flatlands that reveal the distant snow-covered mountains. Sometimes both condiments — and, to be fair, some other possibilities — reveal themselves on the same day, as happened on this New Year’s Day visit.

We headed out to the Great Valley before dawn, arriving to a combination of scattered tule fog that continued to fill in as the morning went on, eventually turning the day rather gray. We spent the morning photographing this landscape and the tens of thousands of migratory birds that occupy it this time of year. By mid afternoon the sky began to clear as winds blew away most of the fog to reveal a clouded-studded blue sky above the expansive wetlands. Here that sky is reflected in a wetland pond — and a bit further out from the camera position you may be able to make out the flock of many thousands of Ross’s and snow geese on the water.

Annual Favorites

2016 Favorite Photographs

January 5, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The task of selecting a small set of annual favorites is both a joy and a chore. It is a joy to traverse the year in photographs, recalling the circumstances of the creation of each photograph. This years photographic opportunities ranged across a spectrum. Photograph of the natural world included work from the Sierra, Death Valley, the Pacific Coast, and migratory bird habitats in California and Oregon. Photography of the human world included night photography done on both coast of the United States plus extensive travel in the UK, Paris, Germany, Italy, and a few other spots.

I started with nearly 40 photographs — way too many for a favorites list. With the help of social media friends who viewed photographs, rated, and commented on photographs, I cut the set to about half that number. After a final round of comment and critique, I (brutally, it feels) cut the set to only ten photographs, with half from the human world and half from the natural world.

The diversity of my photography poses a challenge. Continue reading 2016 Favorite Photographs →

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Great Blue Heron in Flight

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Aspen Trees, Valley

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Winter Wetlands and Sky

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2016 Favorite Photographs

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

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