Tag Archives: atmosphere

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

Wetlands Sunrise, Winter

January 15, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The sun rises above wetlands, barely visible through San Joaquin Valley winter fog

We arrived at this place in California’s San Joaquin Valley well before dawn on New Year’s Day — with some of us having driven as many as two hours in the dark to get there. After the drive, it is always a special moment when we get out of our cars in the cold for warm greetings and hear the sound of cranes and geese waking up in the dark distance. Knowing that the sunrise won’t wait for us, we then turn to unpacking cameras and tripods and to fitting lenses, and then we move out along the perimeter road to find the right combination of birds and atmosphere and light for photographing the dawn that will begin our full day of photography.

This morning was foggy, but not so foggy that we would not see the sunrise. With this in mind we headed to the west side of the wetlands, where we could have a view back across the flatlands and ponds toward the sun rising above the fog and the distant Sierra Nevada. As the sky began to glow we each estimated where we thought the sun would appear, and we found good spots to set up our cameras. As the very top of the orb of the sun appeared on the horizon I quickly made a small adjustment to my location to place the sunrise between the two distant tree silhouettes and to include some interesting foreground water. This was one of the very first exposures I made, at a point where the sun was still so obscured behind the low fog that I could look directly at it — within moments it rose above the ground mist and became extremely bright. I continued to photograph, but in the end this first photograph of soft light, fog, and pastel colors was my favorite.

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

San Luis Reservoir, Autumn Haze

December 26, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Soft light and autumn atmosphere obscure the view across the San Luis Reservoir

Since I have previously described the circumstances of photographing this scene, I’ll keep this description short. The San Luis Reservoir is a huge manmade lake in central California, between the south San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley. I frequently pass by here as I travel to the Valley, the Sierra, and beyond.

On this day I had been out in the Valley photographing migratory birds and the landscapes in which they are found — my first such visit to the Valley this season. On the way back home I passed the reservoir in the middle of the day, when the bright, late-autumn sun was reflecting off the surface of the lake and making the clouds above the distance mountains glow.

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

Boat, San Luis Reservoir

December 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two fisherman in a very small boat on the very large surface of the San Luis Reservoir on a cloudy and hazy autumn day

Returning from my first Central Valley winter bird photography excursion of the new season, I passed by San Luis Reservoir in the middle of the day when soft clouds hung above the mountains across the water and the sun made the hazy atmosphere glow. I usually just drive right past this place — which isn’t easy to access, even though the road runs right next to it — but I decided to figure out how and where to stop and make some photographs.

I found a high overlook at the visitor center that stands at the north end of the huge earthen dam, and from here there was a panoramic view of the surface of the lake and the surrounding California hills, which are mostly golden at this point in the early winter season. (Before long, after the first real rains, they will turn “impossibly green.”) As I photographed landscape subjects I noticed one very small fishing boat on the otherwise-empty surface of the huge reservoir.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite, Post-processing Workflow

Trees, Granite Slabs, Morning Light

December 10, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Trees scattered along granite slabs are backlit by morning light, Yosemite National Park

I am a complete sucker for scenes with scattered trees, separated enough to allow light to pass, that are backlit by morning or evening sun. Among my photographs, they are a bit of a theme, or so I’ve been told, but they are also almost an icon of the Sierra for me. When I think of the term “range of light,” it is most often this light that comes to mind. I know that I’ve always been intrigued by light that makes the atmosphere glow, is so bright that it is hard to look into it.

Early on this morning I began by making a bee line for this rounded granite ridge at the top of a large system of sloping slabs above the lake where we were camped. Initially I was thinking of the location as a place from which to photograph distant subjects in a different direction, but once at this high point, with the sun spilling brilliant light my direction after having just topped the farther ridge, I turned my attention to these trees and rocks, backed by luminous haze and more granite, tree-covered slopes leading toward a higher ridge.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: atmosphere

Wetlands Sunrise, Winter

San Luis Reservoir, Autumn Haze

Boat, San Luis Reservoir

Trees, Granite Slabs, Morning Light

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