Tag Archives: blue

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Two Sandhill Cranes in Flight

Image August 31, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two sandhill cranes in synchonized flight against blue sky

Photographing birds in flight can be rewarding in a number of ways. Careful attention to the birds may reveal a species you haven’t seen before or an interesting variation on a familiar bird. I have developed a greater awareness of the infinite variations of wing position and motion and the relative positioning of birds in groups. And, to be honest, there is the technical challenge of trying to keep the critters in the viewfinder, get focus, and produce a decent image.

Other than the fact that they tend to not come as close as I might like, sandhill cranes aren’t among the most difficult birds to photograph in flight. There are the usual issues of light (it tends to leave the bottom of the birds in shadow except early and late in the day) and distractions from extraneous subjects. But they move fairly slowly and steadily. The pair flew above me, uncharacteristically close to my position, and I made the photograph as their wings were almost perfectly synchronized.

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

Big Sur Coast Headlands

Image August 16, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thinning fog over the Big Sur coast beyond rugged headlands

This was a particularly “quiet” section of the coast on the day I visited. Elsewhere the wind was blowing, sometimes pushing fog across the roadway, and often making photography a bit of a challenge. But here there was shelter from the wind, and the ocean was relatively calm. A fog bank lay across the water in the distance, though it was nearly gone as the day warmed up.

There are impressive headlands all along this section of the Pacific Coast Highway through the Big Sur coast, but this area just south of the town of Big Sur has some of the tallest and steepest sections. I often take this landscape for granted, as I have lived nearby for almost my entire life — and then, every so often, it hits me that it must be one of the most monumental meetings of land and sea on the planet, both for the rugged landscape itself and for the distance across which it stretches.

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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: Ocean & Coast

Beach, Mouth of Little Sur River

Image August 12, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cloud shadows on water as fog dissipates above Point Sur and beaches near the outlet of the Little Sur River

In many locations along the Big Sur coast on this mid-summer morning, the fog was breaking up as I drove south from the Monterey area, heading for the newly reopened section of the Pacific Coast Highway near the small town of Gorda. I stopped as I came to this familiar sight — a place where the road descends and provides a series of evolving views of the beaches near the mouth of the Little Sur River near Point Sur.

As the clouds begin to thin, alternating bands of light and shadow move across the landscape, and from moment to moment this changes to scene. I tried to time this photograph for a moment when key features of the landscape were illuminated — the curving beach, sections of the shallow ocean, and some of the more distant headlands.

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Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pedestrians, London

May 23, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

People walk across a large expanse of concrete reflecting blue sky

It has been a couple of years since I made this photograph, so I may have forgotten portions of the story about its creation. We had been in London for several days (perhaps a week?) and were, as I recall, on our last day before heading on to our next destination. We had some free time, so we headed to the Tate Modern, not really knowing specifically what was showing. We arrived to find that there was a gigantic exhibit of Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings. We are O’Keeffe fans and we’ve seen a lot of her work, so we were surprised to find such an extensive showing of this American artist… in London. Unfortunately, we had not left enough time to fully appreciate the show, not realizing how big it was, and we ended up hurrying through.

At some point – perhaps while waiting to enter the O’Keeffe show? — we had some free time so we headed to a snack bar, and nearby there was an overlook of the area in front of the museum. Most people probably enjoy the view across the River Thames here (and we did, too) but I was interested in what was happening in the large open area directly below. It was in shade, so the illumination was from the giant blue light panel of the sky. Some very small leaves had fallen and they produced a fine galaxy-like pattern on the surface. People stood about or walked past. I waited for them to arrive in interesting conjunctions and made a few photographs.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: blue

Two Sandhill Cranes in Flight

Big Sur Coast Headlands

Beach, Mouth of Little Sur River

Pedestrians, London

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