Tag Archives: agriculture

Photographs: Italy

Vineyards Below Radda

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Vineyards Below Radda
Evening light and shadows on vineyards belown Radda in Chianti

Vineyards Below Radda. Radda in Chianti, Italy. August 23, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light and shadows on vineyards below Radda in Chianti

We have now visited this small town several times. The first time we passed through on our way to another place, barely giving it a glance. (I know, that is hard to believe.) Then on the return drive we came back through it and noticed the remarkable location atop a mountain ridge, with buildings alongside the narrow road and stretching off in either direction. Then we returned for dinner, arriving early enough to take a bit of time exploring the village, which turned out to be a bit larger than we had imagined.

On this dinner visit we came into town a little before 7:00 PM, and since dinner wasn’t scheduled until 7:30 we had some time to wander. After walking up and down some of the narrow streets — barely wide enough for a single small car in many places and few cars go there — I found a walk along the edge of the ridge overlooking the valley to the west and facing into the beautiful evening light. Far in the distance (and not seen in this photograph) were tree-covered hills stretching off toward very distant mountains. Below were vineyards and olive orchards, with the gentle gold-hour light passing from left to right and beginning to darken the shadows.

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

Central Valley Trees and Fog

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Central Valley Trees and Fog
Late autumn trees and fog, San Joaquin Valley

Central Valley Trees and Fog. San Joaquin Valley, California. December 6, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late autumn trees and fog, San Joaquin Valley

I have had my eye on these trees for several years now. In fact, I have photographed them a few times, though I wasn’t quite happy with the results. They stand near a spot that I frequently visit during the late fall through winter months, when migratory birds live in the nearby wetlands and fields. In fact, that is why I was there on this December day. After a couple of hours of bird photography I looked over in the direction of the trees and thought that the light might be right for a photograph.

The light in this part of the Central Valley is astonishingly variable, especially in the winter and near-winter months. There can be high thin clouds, a Pacific weather front, general haze, or fog so thick that you can’t see 100 feet… unless you look up to see the stars and the moon! This day was quite variable, and that was part of the fun of photographing it. Fog was forming when we arrived before dawn. It stuck around a while, thinned and morphed into a sort of general atmospheric haziness. Above the fog there were high clouds that also muted the light a bit. Here and there, actual fog banks formed. This photograph has a little of all of these things: the light on the trees is muted, fog banks stand in the distance with high clouds overhead.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Sun Beams, Clearing Fog

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Sun Beams, Clearing Fog
Sun Beams, Clearing Fog

Sun Beams, Clearing Fog. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 25, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Afternoon sun breaks through clearing fog in the farm country of the San Joaquin Valley

This photograph, made late on a day spent photographing migratory birds and the landscape they inhabit, illustrates a bunch of things that seem important to me. Each one might be the subject of a short article, but I’ll try to keep it short in this post. One theme might be persistence or patience: This was not the easiest day of photography, with interesting thick fog early in the day, but a midday that seemed to be a bit aimless and included an unsuccessful visit to a nearby area, and a conclusion that was glorious in several ways. Another might be flexibility: I was there primary to photograph wildlife, but I was ready to switch gears and become a landscape photographer when the clouds began to break up in the very late afternoon. It also reminds me to the value of not focusing on the literal depiction of what passes for the objective reality of the landscape, and the importance of focusing on the mood of the place in a subjective way. And it provides an example of how two photographers, working from nearly the same spot, will make quite different photographs and come away with different kinds of successes.

A few days earlier I had photographed at this same location, and late that day I had convinced myself that there would be no great evening light, and I left early. Who knows what I missed as a result of that decision! This time, shooting with a group of friends, I was back on track and eager to shoot until the light was gone. It was an unusual day — great but challenging photography conditions early in the morning, followed by less exciting conditions later in the day. Then in the early evening a large flock of Ross’s geese assembled in a familiar spot and a few of us headed there and positioned the flock between ourselves and the sky to the west, where the clouds were finally starting to break up. During the last portion of the day we were treated to this cloud and light show as the sun played peak-a-boo with the clouds and to one of the most spectacular mass take-offs of geese that I have seen.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Corn Field, Fog

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Corn Field, Fog
Corn Field, Fog

Corn Field, Fog. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 16, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The winter remains of a corn field in San Joaquin Valley

I used to imagine that wildlife refuges, those areas that are intended to provide habitat for wild critters, were something like parks of wilderness. Since I’ve been photographing winter birds in California I have learned that this presumption is usually dead wrong. There are a few such places that are left in their natural state, but many of them are distinctly non-natural locations. (Many are also there because hunters want to ensure that birds are there for them.) Quite a few of these places are agricultural, including some that I often visit.

I’ve seen some where the flooded winter fields were rice fields. This one is a corn field during much of the year and part of a very interesting and busy wildlife refuge in the winter. As I was there photographing birds recently, I looked across a field of dead corn plants fading into the distant fog and something about this desolate scene seemed worth a photograph, and I like the rather different mood that it evokes for me.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.