Tag Archives: america

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

Breaking Wave, Reflected Sun

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Breaking Wave, Reflected Sun
“Breaking Wave, Reflected Sun” — Winter sunlight reflects on the water beyond a breaking wave during a Pacific storm.

Between Christmas and New Year’s Day, California had several days of extraordinarily high surf, produced by storms far out in the Pacific Ocean. Media reports consistently warned citizens to “stay away from coastal areas.” Consequently, many of us high-tailed it straight to the nearest coastal areas to watch the show! (In all seriousness, this kind of surf really is dangerous. If you go, please observe from a very safe distance.) We visited the section between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay, and the surf was as big as I’ve ever seen it.

It was cloudy most of the time, but occasionally the sun managed to break through a bit, creating beautiful reflections on the waves and the distant ocean. This photograph is one of a series I made from a high (and safe) observation point on a peninsula that juts out into the ocean. From here I could watch the waveS break and continue on toward the shore to my left.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands, Dawn Light and Fog

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Wetlands, Dawn Light and Fog
Shallow fog diffuses the morning light in Central Valley wetlands.

Happy New Year’s Day 2024! When this post appears on January 1, I’ll be in the field to greet the literal dawn of the new year with friends, fellow photographers, and few thousand migratory birds. With luck, it may be a morning like the one in the photograph, with beautiful soft light, a bit of fog, sunrise colors, and lots of wildlife all around. I hope that your new year begins as well!

This photograph comes from dawn on a December morning when I visited wetlands. My main goal was to photograph birds, but somehow I almost always end up photographing landscapes in such places. I arrived to some of my favorite conditions: the glow of pre-dawn light, thick fog, chilly air, and the sound of thousands of birds all around me.

Note: I’m starting the new year with a few changes at my website, including the new, simplified format for posted photographs and streamlined text. Since this is something of an experiment, don’t be surprised if I continue to make changes for a while.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

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

Toward the Moon

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Toward the Moon
A small flock of lesser sandhill cranes flies toward the early morning moon.

Toward the Moon. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A small flock of lesser sandhill cranes flies toward the early morning moon.

This photograph closes out my posts for 2023. This time is an opportunity to look back across the year that is ending and to look forward to what may be coming in the new year. It was a bit of a different year for me photographically, particularly in that we took a long overseas trip (from which I still have many photographs to share). As a result, there were fewer of my familiar Sierra photographs… since I was thousands of miles away during months when I usually spend time in the mountains. What will the new year bring? We’ll start to find out soon enough!

This photograph comes from a November day of migratory bird photography, my first of the new season. I photographed intensely in during the window of beautiful light around sunrise, and at this point I turned my attention to sandhill cranes taking to the air among broken, sunrise-lit clouds, some of which are slightly obscuring the moon in this photograph.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Urban Wild, Manhattan

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Urban Wild, Manhattan
Tightly packed buildings and large trees, Manhattan.

Urban Wild, Manhattan. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Tightly packed buildings and large trees, Manhattan.

This photograph embodies something about Manhattan that I’ve mentioned before: For such an intensely urban place, there are a lot of examples of the natural world. It isn’t the kind of (ostensibly) “pure” nature that we see in the America West, but I sometimes think that its close juxtaposition with the city environment almost makes it more precious. We have whole forests out here in California, but in Manhattan a single tree can sometimes mean almost as much.

I saw this scene from the High Line Park as we walked its length last November. To those of use used to living with more space around and between us, the closeness of urban abodes along this park is surprising, and it almost seems voyeuristic to take a long look through the trees in someone’s tiny yard.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

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

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