Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

White-Fronted Geese, Dawn Clouds

August 20, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A group of white-fronted geese silhouetted against dawn clouds above the Sacramento Valley.

This is another photograph from the early morning of my one-day visit to wildlife refuges in the Sacramento Valley. Arriving at such a place for the first time a bit before sunrise it is a bit difficult to know what to look for or where to find it. I did quickly spot some birds and at least there was a spectacular dawn sky!

Soon groups of geese began flying above me as they moved towards a nearby pond. I watched and waited and attempted to time photographs for when the birds passed in front of interesting background elements. It is hard to tell, since they are silhouetted against the brighter sky, but this is a group of white-fronted geese.

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

Photographs: France

The Louvre

August 19, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Louvre, viewed from an upstairs gallery

Most of our time in Paris was sunny, but one morning we awoke to fog. We were on an upper floor of a hotel in Montmartre from which we had a view toward the center of Paris and the Eiffel Tower, and the fog was a surprise — it look and felt a lot like a good old San Francisco morning fog. In our by-now-typical “casual” (lazy?) fashion we eventually left the hotel and headed downtown.

There is, obviously, a lot to see and do in Paris — and when you spend about four hours per day (happily) eating and sitting in cafes you cannot do everything. But we did want to get to the Louvre, and this was the day. If you’ve been there, this isn’t news, but the place is absolutely huge — overwhelming, actually. We had no illusions about seeing the whole thing, so we spend most of the day on one floor of one section, with brief forays into a couple other areas. During one break I found this window with its view overlooking the courtyard area.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Night Heron, Reflection

August 18, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A solitary night heron perches on a snag above a reflecting pool

I have mentioned before that I came late to an interest in photographing birds — it only began a few years ago when I took a serendipitous trip to a California Central Valley refuge where I saw huge numbers of birds. Despite being a virtually life-long Californian living within a short drive of such areas, I barely knew they existed. (I had one prior hint on a drive to the Pacific Northwest some years ago, when I passed through the upper Sacramento Valley on a late-November evening and say many birds in the sky.)

That all changed during recent years. At first I “discovered” geese and egrets, the latter which I had seen before and occasionally photographed in the San Francisco Bay Area. Then I caught on to some of the other birds out in the Central Valley — ibises, cranes, herons, white pelicans. But the night herons continued to be a bit of a mystery, and frankly they still remain so to an extent. They are found at the location where I most often photograph, but typically off at some distance. That distance, along with their habit of roosting in thick grasses and plants, makes them hard to see and photograph. On this visit to a different location up in the Sacramento Valley I found a huge group of them in brush just across a canal, and I was able to photograph them from a closer distance, including this one that was atypically out of the brush and standing on a log.

Photographs: People, Photographs: Photographers

Photographer Franka M. Gabler

August 17, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I often photograph alone — ultimately, most photography of the sorts I do tends to be a solo thing — but sometimes I do get together with other photographers (and occasionally painters and assorted others) in the field. In fact, some of us have a bit of a tradition of meeting in the Central Valley to welcome the new year in the company of one another and of many thousands of migratory birds! Among other things, these get-togethers are a fine opportunity to photograph one another!

I made this photograph of friend and photographer Franka Mlikota Gabler on New Year’s Day this year, as all of us were on a wild goose chase — literally!

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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

G Dan Mitchell Photography

White-Fronted Geese, Dawn Clouds

The Louvre

Night Heron, Reflection

Photographer Franka M. Gabler

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