Tag Archives: america

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest, Drifting Fog

March 6, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter evening fog drifts among forest trees, Yosemite National Park

Winter is a special time in Yosemite Valley, and during the first weekend of March it was special for all the usual reasons and a few others. The Yosemite Renaissance XXIX opening reception opening took place on Friday and the Range of Light Film Festival was going on all weekend. Not only did this provide opportunities to view beautiful interpretations of the Sierra and the park by a wide range of visual artists, but it also meant that the place was full of painters, sculptures, photographers, and film-makers, among whom were a good number of personal friends. It seemed like wherever I went I found people I knew. Many were doing their work, but there was a relaxed quality that led to plenty of sitting on rocks, looking at views, conversations, and even a few dinners.

But even without all of that, the Valley seems to me to be at almost its most attractive at this time of year. We arrived on a rainy late afternoon, with snow falling along the upper reaches of the Valley. Clouds and fog and mist were everywhere, blocking the light one moment and then moving to allow bits of light here and there to highlight ridges, trees, cliffs, and peaks. Even photographers who usually shoot somewhere else headed to familiar lookouts such as Tunnel View, and I found myself there more than once. For me, the primary attractions of that place at this time of year — in addition to running into friends and yakking it up — are the vignettes of bits of cloud-shrouded ridges and trees above and the frequent fogs floating through the forest on the Valley floor. So I put on a long lens and pointed the camera either up or down towards these subjects and watched the show. As I was photographing the fog drifting among trees down in the Valley, as in this photograph, I remarked to a nearby photographer friend that this subject forced me to toss out any attempt to work slowly and thoughtfully and methodically. The fog was inconstant motion among the trees and momentary compositions would coalesce in one or another part of the Valley below, only to disappear as quickly as they had appeared. In the time it takes to carefully frame and compose an image the momentary subject would simply disappear, either become completely obscured or else losing its magic as the fog thinned. Quick and instinctive work was and is the only thing that works here!

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, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

White-Faced Ibis

March 4, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

White-Faced Ibis feeding in San Joaquin Valley wetlands

As I have pointed out in the past, I’m no bird expert – but I do like to photograph them! For some reason the white-faced ibis has intrigued me for some time. The first time I photographed them it was an accident. I was photographing birds flying overhead on one winter morning when the sky was filled with birds – so many that I mostly just photographed without paying too much attention to the specifics of what I was seeing. Sometime later when I got home and looked at the files I saw that one large group of birds flying in a long row, silhouetted against the brighter sky, had the interesting curved bills that characterize the ibises.

More recently I have learned to look for them, and in some of the places I photograph I now know where to find them, down to the acre in a few cases. In mid-February I went to one of these locations and ended up at a spot where I have seen many of them in the past, often feeding in groups. But this time I saw exactly two. One was behind some reeds and did not make a good photographic subject, but this one was feeding alongside a gravel road right at the edge of the water. I stopped my car – which often serves as an effective blind – and opened a window and waited (somewhat) patiently as the bird worked its way along in the shallow water. The trick is to think of this almost as a portrait – I watch for the bird to turn into the best light, to stand in an interesting position, to face the camera, and to be in a spot that avoids distracting or interfering objects. The egret tends to spend a lot of its time with its beak deep in the water as it looks for food – not a very attractive photographic pose! But it periodically lifts the beak and every so often it briefly stands up straight as seen here. The plumage of this bird is very interesting. It can look just plain dull and almost black in some light. But if it turns its body toward the sun, the feathers become iridescent and have tints of green and red.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects

The Cloisters

March 3, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Large stone room at the Cloisters museum, Tryon Park, New York City

The Cloisters is a facility that is a (remote) part of New York’s Metropolitan Museum, located way uptown at Fort Tryon along the Hudson River not too far from the George Washington Bridge. It was constructed as a sort of showplace for various elements from early European architecture and art, and it feels far removed from much of the rest of the New York experience, at least to this Californian. We had visited, or tried to visit, on a previous trip to New York, going all the way up there only to find that we had picked the one day each week when it was closed! So getting back there and going inside was on our agenda during our late 2013 visit.

The weather and light affect my response to such places, and this was a gray winter day. We took the subway up from lower Manhattan, and when we got off at Fort Tryon it was very cold, very gray, and quite windy as we walked to the Cloisters. Once inside, the light coming in from courtyards and windows was soft and diffused, and I thought the light in this room was especially beautiful. Some light was coming in from outside through the small window at the right, but out of the frame to the left there is a large open courtyard that was also spilling light in from that direction.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Ocean, Winter Light

March 2, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Intense winter sunlight reflects on the cloud-shadowed surface of the Pacific Ocean along the Big Sur coast, California

From my perspective, winter is by far the most interesting time to visit and, especially, to photograph along California’s Pacific Ocean coastline. While summer is the popular season for travel, during that time of year the ocean tends to be tranquil and the weather is often foggy. While it is likely to be warm and sunny elsewhere in California in the summer, along the coast it can feel more like winter! But winter along the coast brings much more diverse conditions and even some surprising warmth when conditions are just right. When large Pacific storms churn away far north in the Gulf of Alaska, lines of huge waves may crash on the shoreline. When the storms arrive, the coastal areas can be whipped by wind-driven rain. But between the storms there can be days of crystal clear weather.

That was the weather on the last day of January when we took a long round trip down the Big Sur coast and back. Aside from some (beautiful!) coastal haze that glowed in the midday light, it was a clear day and surprisingly warm for the most part. Along the Big Sur coastline the Pacific Coast Highway alternates between the coastal lowlands and a track that takes it high into the rugged mountains along the shoreline. Vast expanses of the surface of the Pacific are visible from the highest spots, and as we started down from one of these high points we saw the water, with the color and texture of molten metal, stretching away into the sun and towards the horizon, with a few shadows from thin clouds darkening the water near the shore.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: america

Forest, Drifting Fog

White-Faced Ibis

The Cloisters

Ocean, Winter Light

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