Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Clouds

Image January 25, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Four white pelicans in a cloud-filled California late-autumn sky.

My timing was fortuitous on this morning. The white pelicans usually congrats in groups that appear to contain a few dozen individuals. The often stay more or less in one place for long periods of time, but eventually they decide to move. They take off in long strings of individuals, generally flying past not too far off the ground. This happens suddenly, and if I’m not in the right spot, rather than being close enough to photograph them I watch the brief spectacle from a distance. On this day I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time.

I think of the white pelicans as being special. Perhaps most people wouldn’t, being mostly familiar with white versions of the bird. But I had a long acquaintance with the coastal brown pelicans before I ever realized that the white version was found locally. I’m sure they were around, but someone I didn’t notice — today I see them in quiet coastal waters, in inland ponds, and more. But even today, the coastal birds seem familiar and conventional to me, while these white birds still seem a bit exotic.

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: Architecture, Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel

Parken Verboten

Image January 24, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A textured wall, a window, and a “Parken verboten!” sign in Turnau

Last summer we stayed in the small German town of Thurnau for a few nights. We were in the neighborhood for the Bayreuther Festspiele (“Bayreauth Festival”) — the famous location for performances of the operas of Richard Wagner. We have a “connection” (a relative of Patty’s) who lives in Germany and, perhaps to his surprise, he managed to get tickets. This was an opportunity that was too good to pass up, and we ended up seeing three performances.

Thurnau is not Bayreuth, but when everything else in Bayreuth is booked, Thurnau is close enough! Even better, we ended up staying at Schloss Thurnau which is (as you may have figured out if you know a few German words) a castle in this town. Attending one of these operas is a bit different than going to a “regular” opera back home — they are hours long and each intermission is an hour long, so you use up most of the afternoon and all of an evening attending a performance. However, we did have some time to go out and wander though nearly areas of the neat little town of Thurnau, and I made this photograph of a window, a practical sign, and an unusual wall in the neighborhood.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetland Evening Reflections

Image January 23, 2019 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

A wetland pont reflects a late-autumn evening sky as a weather front approaches

This wetland evening was representative of another seasonal “type” here in California — the conditions that arise as one of our Gulf of Alaska weather fronts approaches the state. Once the storm arrives the light can be quite gray, but there is a transitional period when beautiful high clouds begin to move in, but are still broken enough to reveal the sky and to allow direct sunlight to illuminate the landscape and sky.

This was one of those evenings. As it became later the conditions changed from clear to increasingly cloudy. By the time I made this photograph the sun had already dropped behind the clouds to the west, and the light became much softer and much less warm in color. Yet, to my north some of that color still appeared in the higher clouds, and I stopped to photograph this sky and its reflection in a shallow pond.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Pond, Clearing Fog, Morning Light

Image January 22, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Water plants and clearing fog in morning light over a wetland pond.

Luckily for me, I live in a part of the world with lots of opportunities to find watery landscapes that may be affected by fog, mist, clouds, rain, and even a brilliant sunrise or sunset. I live less than an hour from the California coast, and only a few hours from spectacular places such as the Big Sur Coast and Point Reyes National Monument. There are many other places not far away that feature this things — water, light, and atmosphere — and if I visit at the right times I get the bonus of quiet and stillness.

I made this photograph on one of those foggy mornings near water. The sun had come up already and the spectacular dawn and immediate post-dawn light was gone. But as the sun rises it also warms the air, and the fog begins to thin and dissipate. When I came upon these interesting water plants, going to brown at the end of their season, the air had cleared enough to begin to reveal more distant details under the soft but directional light.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

White Pelicans, Clouds

Parken Verboten

Wetland Evening Reflections

Pond, Clearing Fog, Morning Light

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