Tag Archives: central

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

White Pelicans, Fog

January 25, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small flock of white pelicans huddles together in pre-dawn fog, San Joaquin Valley, California

This band of pelicans – or at least I assume it is likely the same group – is becoming familiar to us, since we find them in about the same spot each time we visit this particular location in the San Joaquin Valley. We don’t always see them right away, but they are often here in the morning close to when we arrive before dawn, and they often show up here later in the day, too, or at a nearby low island in the marsh.

We looked for them when we arrived and passed that small island but did not see them. Other birds were there, perhaps some kind of gulls. So we moved on and looked for cranes whose cries told us they were about even before we saw them. We stopped along the levee road to photograph these sandhill cranes taking flight right around dawn, and at about this time we first saw a smaller than usual group of the white pelicans in the water to our east. I had a few minutes to photograph them before they suddenly took flight and left. In this photograph they appear against the backdrop of the morning fog and mist that was tinted slightly pink by the early light as fog rose from the waters of the marsh.

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: Abstract, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese in Motion

January 12, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of geese takes flight in front of a winter evening sky, San Joaquin Valley, California

This is another bird photograph that intentionally flirts with the limits long shutter speed in order to allow motion blur to affect the image. This is perhaps a bit less “abstract” than the previous one I shared in that you can still see reasonably well-defined shapes of some birds in this photograph.

On a winter evening in California’s Central Valley I intentionally lowered the shutter speed to a setting much slower than normally used for handheld shots with a long lens. I tracked the birds as they lifted off during the evening “fly out” event, attempting to shoot during moments when the flock assembled itself into some sort of interesting configuration and, if possible was seen against something interesting in the sky beyond – dusk colors, other birds, etc. The faint blurs in the lower portion of the image are more distant flock. Although it almost doesn’t matter in a photograph like this one, the birds are Ross’s geese. One thing that appeals to me in this photograph is that while the birds are little more than vaporous smudges in some places, in other you can almost make out actual details for their shapes.

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

Foggy Marsh, Dawn Light

January 6, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn light begins to illuminate high clouds above the fog over a California Central Valley marsh

Have I mentioned how much I love fog and pre-dawn and post-sunset light? I guess I have… :-) I made this photograph on New Years Day 2013, shortly after arriving at the San Joaquin location in near darkness to meet a group of friends and fellow “wild goose chasers.” I can hardly imagine a better way to greet the new year than to join like-minded friends in such a place!

This was a day of surprises of various sorts. A painter showed up to join our photography-centric little band! We took a midday break to go see a movie. Although they were too far away to see clearly in the early morning haze, huge numbers of cranes arrived just after sunset. A solitary flock of white pelicans surprised us with an unexpected fly-over at one point. And the light and atmosphere were about impossible to predict. It was cold and seemed very clear on the way to our location, but as we arrived I could see hints of fog forming above this wet and cold area. Just before dawn it was quite hazy and gray, providing neither perfectly clear air nor the evocative and mysterious atmosphere of thick tule fog. But as sometimes happened, as the sky became lighter at sunrise, the brighter clouds and sky above the low elevation murk began to reveal itself, much as a hidden theatrical set may become visible behind a scrim. We stopped at the spot where I made this photograph because we could barely see a very large flock of (hundreds or, more likely, thousands) of sandhill cranes across the pond near the levee next to the trees. We stood around waiting for the birds to fly our direction, which they mostly did not do. But as we waited I began to see a bit of color and definition come to the higher clouds far above the low fog.

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

Dawn, New Years Day 2013

January 5, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Dawn light above a San Joaquin Valley marsh on New Years Day, 2013

I didn’t manage to post a real New Years Day photo on New Years Day this year… since I was out and about well before dawn on that morning, thinking that it would be even more fun to greet the new year in the field than to just share a post about it! We were staying in the Sierra foothills and had enjoyed a wonderful New Years eve with friends in the area the evening before. Although we had planned to “call it a night” soon enough to turn in early in anticipation for a pre-5:00 a.m. wake-up call, it was after midnight when we finally got to bed.

We were up at 4:45 – yes, on New Years Day! – and out the door shortly after 5:15, and on our way out into the San Joaquin Valley, where a small group of us assembled at about 6:30 in the darkness. After sleepy “Happy New Year!” wishes we headed off into the first pre-dawn light to look for geese and cranes and other critters. Within a few minutes I stopped along the levee road by these trees to make my first real photograph of the new year as the first light began to turn high clouds over the Sierra a beautiful shade of pink.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: central

Geese in Motion

Foggy Marsh, Dawn Light

Dawn, New Years Day 2013

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