Tag Archives: california

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetland Reflections, Dawn

Image January 6, 2022 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

The dawn light is remarkably fleeting. The space between “too early” and “too late” can be extremely small, and on a morning like this one I might have only moments to see what is happening in the sky, find a foreground, create a composition, and make some photographs. When the light arrived and a small group of clouds appeared in the distance, I first worked handheld with a long lens in order to narrow the view and get some flexibility about positioning the tree. Then I grabbed another camera that had a wider angle lens attached, and I made a few photographs that included more sky and water than seen here.

I have photographed in some remarkable landscape, where particular objects demanded attention. But this landscape along the Pacific Flyway is not that sort of place. To be honest, often it can seem plain and even boring. Much of the area is agricultural country, and nearby there are large cattle operations — not the most scenic or pleasant of landscape subjects. But for a few months each winter the fields flood and migratory birds return, and when the conditions are just right magic may happen.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Above the Water

Image January 3, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of small birds, reflected in the surface of a winter pond.

These birds move so quickly and follow such unpredictable patterns that they are a real challenge to photograph. The sometimes stay in one place a bit while feeding but then, without much warning that I can detect, the whole flock of them instantly takes to the air, flying closely together and abruptly turning as if they were a single organism. They move quickly enough that it is hard to track them, and when they appear they are often in and out of camera range in a few short seconds.

Quite often they appear against busy backgrounds of grasses and trees and more distant water, and they can easily get lost against these backdrops. (Here their speed can be helpful, as panning with the birds can blur those backgrounds a bit.) It was foggy on this morning, and I chose (very quickly and intuitively!) to photograph them over a patch of uninterrupted water that gradually faded into the fog.

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

Three Trees, Sunset Clouds

Image December 31, 2021 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

As we approach the end of 2021, here is (another) photograph from the last day of 2019, made on the last New Year’s Eve of the Before Times. It is strange to think back to the end of that year, when we certainly were well aware of challenges in our world — but when we had no idea of what was about to come. The subject of the photograph is an astounding scene of light and sky that formed late in the day. So many of these scenes are the result of coincidences that are far beyond our control — the light, the weather, the wind, where you find yourself and more. Often nothing out of the ordinary happens. But if you are there often enough, eventually you will almost certainly encounter something astounding.

As I saw this scene developing I stopped what I had been doing — photographing migratory birds — and turned my attention to the landscape. Since much of the scene was the sky itself and its reflection, the only real compositional decisions had to do with frame boundaries and what else might be in the scene. I found a place where I could get close enough to the water to fill the lower frame with reflections, then identified these trees as a potential visual focus, and I simply began making photographs as the light evolved. You may have seen another photograph from this evening that shared recently. I don’t think that there is one right way to portray such a scene, so I ended up with at least three ways of seeing it.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Boba Tea Shop, Night

Image December 30, 2021 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A San Francisco Chinatown Boba Tea shot at night.

This is another San Francisco night street photography photograph, made possible by the advent of very good, very small digital cameras that can now make good images in very dark conditions. Places like this one, with narrow streets, bright interiors, and a fair amount of ambient light from business signs, become viable subjects for the photographers working with handheld cameras and no electronic flash. In this sort of photography I often work quickly, pausing only long enough to frame up an interesting urban landscape and look for people to populate it.

As a person who frequently photographs on foot in San Francisco and who has lived reasonably close to The City for decades, I know some parts of San Francisco pretty well at this point. I’m frequently in and around Chinatown when I’m up there — because a friend suggests it, because I pass through on my way to another destination, or because it is my destination. For the most part I eschew the busy, commercialized stretch of Grant Street that most think of when they hear “Chinatown” in San Francisco. But at night it becomes more interesting to me, and the larger number and variety of ambient light sources are both interesting and helpful. The bright interior of this shop contrasts with the dark world on the sidewalk, and it is hard for me to say what is actually going on in the shop.