Tag Archives: central

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Levee, Fog, and Sandhill Cranes

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Levee, Fog, and Sandhill Cranes - A row of sandhill cranes pass above a levee on a foggy winter morning, Central Valley of California.
A row of sandhill cranes pass above a levee on a foggy winter morning, Central Valley of California.

Levee, Fog, and Sandhill Cranes. Central Valley, California. January 28, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A row of sandhill cranes pass above a levee on a foggy winter morning, Central Valley of California.

This is yet another photograph in which my landscape photographer brain perhaps took over from my wildlife photographer brain. I wrote elsewhere that even when I shoot wildlife, I often catch myself thinking about the landscape in any of several ways. While the birds are overhead, I’m purely in wildlife photographer mode, but during pauses in the action my eyes drift off to fix on elements of the landscape that might make interesting photographs.

Sometimes I put the two together and use a technique that, perhaps oddly, I also apply when doing some kinds of street photography. In essence, I think about what I can control in the scene, namely the fixed landscape elements, and I more or less create a composition with a “hole” in it where transient elements like birds might fit. Now I obviously have no control at all over what the birds will do or when and where they will pass through the frame, so there is an element of chance in all of this. Using a zoom lens helps, in that I can quickly reframe the scene if the birds happen to be lower or higher when they pass by. Needless to say, there is a lot of waiting involved, some of it which could be slightly frustrating as birds fly past just above the frame or too far away, or too low. But every so often they do pass though in an appealing location. To further blur the landscape/wildlife photography lines, I frequently do what I did in the sequence of images from which this frame comes – I pan with the camera on the tripod as the birds move along. In this case, I have to make instant landscape decisions as the background, formerly-fixed elements are now moving in the frame. Yes, landscape photography as an action sport!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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

Tree and Bird-Filled Morning Sky

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Tree and Bird-Filled Morning Sky - Giant flocks of migratory birds fill the winter sky above the Central Valley of California.
Giant flocks of migratory birds fill the winter sky above the Central Valley of California.

Tree and Bird-Filled Morning Sky. Central Valley, California. January 28, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Giant flocks of migratory birds fill the winter sky above the Central Valley of California.

There are times when the number of migratory birds visible in California’ Central Valley approaches the level of unbelievable. As we photographed them near the end of January, at one point we noticed that there are almost always more birds than you think you see. Your attention might be caught by a formation of birds flying not too far above. But if you look beyond them you might see another formation up higher. And if you look more closely you might find even more birds higher and further away. For me it is common to review a photograph that I made of one grouping only to discover many, many more that I had not even seen when I made the exposure.

During a lull in the action directly overhead, I looked a bit further out to the east and noticed what might best be described as a “cloud of birds” rising from an area perhaps a mile or more away. At first the cloud stuck together, but soon it began to thin and separate into smaller groups. If you look more closely at this little jpg version of the image, you may still be able to see even more birds than were apparent at first glance. The sidelight on the tree and the plants growing around the pond comes from very early morning sunlight shortly after dawn.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Birds, Brush, and Setting Sun

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Birds, Brush, and Setting Sun - Sun sets over Merced National Wildlife Refuge, silhouetting brush and birds.
Sun sets over Merced National Wildlife Refuge, silhouetting brush and birds.

Birds, Brush, and Setting Sun. Merced National Wildlife Refuge, California. January 28, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sun sets over Merced National Wildlife Refuge, silhouetting brush and birds.

I’m not usually one to shoot straight into the rising or setting sun, but here you are… straight into the setting sun! While photographing birds and landscape at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge during the last weekend of January, we ended at a bend in the gravel road that loops around the main area of the refuge. We were trying to get close enough to some very big flocks of birds that were settling in on the nearby fields along the ponds, but they were mostly too far away. From time to time flocks would pass overhead, so we were able to photograph them in small groups, but the shots of the larger group – containing thousands of birds – eluded us on this visit.

But when the birds are more difficult to photograph, I end up looking around more at other things. And even in what might seem like a flat and almost featureless landscape, there are elements that contribute to the sense of quiet and space that comes on in the evening in the parts of the Central Valley… and before you know it, I’m shooting landscapes again! We had seen this little clump of trees or brush earlier and used it as an element in some other photographs. We had also noticed that one solitary bird perched motionless on a single tall branch extending above the surrounding thicker brush. Then it occurred to me that if I moved just a few feet to my left that the sun might pass right behind the bird shortly before it set – and a few frames later this photograph resulted.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Migratory Birds, Dusk

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Migratory Birds, Dusk - Flocks of migratory birds fly over the Merced National Wildlife Refuge at dusk, San Joaquin Valley, California
Flocks of migratory birds fly over the Merced National Wildlife Refuge at dusk, San Joaquin Valley, California

Migratory Birds, Dusk. Merced National Wildlife Refuge, California. January 28, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Flocks of migratory birds fly over the Merced National Wildlife Refuge at dusk, San Joaquin Valley, California.

I think that I’m as interested in the landscape of the Central Valley of California as I am in the migratory birds that I went there to photograph during the last weekend of January. I’m still surprised to find that this landscape is more varied than I realized for many years, even though I’ve lived in California almost all of my life and I frequently drive through the Valley on my way to the Sierra and other places. I used to think of it as “that hot place between here and there,” at least in the summer. Later I found out about the very different winter climate there, where it is often foggy for days or weeks on end. The, after I learned about the amazing annual arrival of migratory birds, I realized just how much of the Valley is waterlogged at least part of the year.

The area of the Merced National Wildlife Refuge is one such area. Located more or less between the towns of Merced and Los Banos, it holds many seasonal ponds, and these ponds are the winter homes of thousands and thousands of birds. On our visit during the final weekend of January 2012, the birds were there, all right. However, they were mostly too far away to photograph them easily except when they occasionally passed over head. But the landscape was as accessible as ever. Here I wanted to accentuate the vast sky above the flat surface of the valley, so I tilted the camera up a bit so that the flooded fields and sparse trees sat at the bottom of the frame, and the gradient of color and light fills most of the frame, interrupted by passing flocks of migratory birds.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.