Tag Archives: county

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Launch For Hire Building

July 14, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

The “Launch For Hire” building, docks, and Tomales Bay as remnants of morning fog drift above the water

I was in this area back in early February, attempting to make it out to Point Reyes by dawn – but various things delayed me, including distractions along the way, and I ended up along the shoreline of Tomales Bay at sunrise. The bay is long and thin and seems quite peaceful, but Californians often remember that it is there because it is the junction between the continental plate and the Pacific plate, otherwise known as the San Andreas earthquake fault. The land I stood on to make this photograph is gradually heading northward and out to sea relative to the more distant land across the bay in the upper part of the frame. Periodically, this must briefly be a distinctly non-peaceful place when that fault lets go!

But on this morning it was quiet. The winter season and cold (literally freezing) temperatures ensured that few other people were there yet, though visitors to Point Reyes National Seashore come all year long and would begin to arrive a bit later in the morning. The light was a study in contrasts. To my right from the camera position was the morning sun, barely rising above the Marin hills and shining from behind some thin and clearing fog. I also made some photographs in that direction and you would hardly guess they were shot from the same place at the same time, since the backlit atmosphere was so bright and luminous than only silhouettes appear. But in this direction only a bit of that fog is seen, in a thin layer just above the water near the far hills, and the foreground is completely clear. There is a group of these piers here, and they extend a good distance into the shallow waters of the bay. I cannot tell what, if anything, the building whose full sign reads “Launch for Hire” is used for today, though its form and the reflections underneath seemed like a good subject for a photograph.

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

Goose-filled Morning Sky

July 5, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thousands of Ross’s Geese fill the hazy dawn sky above the San Joaquin Valley, California

This is a simple photograph of a morning sky almost completely filled with Ross’s geese. We had arrived here in thick fog a couple of hours earlier, first photographing cranes and a few other birds in the murky atmospheric conditions, relieved a bit by some slight clearing right about the time that the sun rose. Two big moments on any goose-photographing day are during the morning “fly out” and the evening “fly in” when thousands of the birds can suddenly take to the air at once in tremendous flocks that may begin with tightly packed geese and then evolve into a wider dispersion of the birds as they circle. Sometimes you can be surprised by one of the compact groups rising up at a distance that seems too far away to be photographable, but then they rise and spread out to cover the sky and begin to reach your own location.

This flock did more or less that. They first took to the air a good distance away near a group of large cottonwood trees. I recall thinking something like, “Too far away for my lenses” as the group first became airborne. Then they began to circle and spread and, yes, before long the edge of the flock was over my position. By this time the original cloud of birds had become, in some ways, more orderly. For example, they were mostly flying at about the same height above the ground – if you had been at their height you might have looked edgewise across a plane-like “surface” of flying birds. And although it may be difficult to see in this small version of the photograph, as the geese turned in various directions, portions of the flock would change color – notice the geese near the top of the frame that are lighter because their bodies are turned to the east and the morning sun, while in the middle of the frame the bird are turned in a different direction and their bodies are almost black.

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

Female Redwing Blackbirds

July 4, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Three female redwing blackbirds among the reeds near a San Joaquin Valley pond.

Among the relatively small number of birds that I actually can identify with some certainty are the red wing blackbirds… or so I thought. (To repeat my frequent disclaimer, I’m no expert on identifying birds, despite the fact that I frequently photograph them.) I have long been intrigued by these small birds, which I’ve photographed in large flocks and as individuals. The flocks are fun to watch and shoot for many reasons, but one is that as the birds turn and angle across the landscape many of them may reveal the namesake red areas on their wings for brief instants.

I remember making this photograph and being intrigued by the small birds hanging out in the reeds of this pond where I had gone to photograph other larger and more impressive migratory birds, including geese, cranes, and more. The soft light on the birds caught my attention – fog was thinning but still muting the light – as did the warm golden and brown colors of the vegetation and the out of focus background of small trees. At the time I really did not know what kind of birds these were, but I figured that I could look them up later. I did so somewhat later when I had time to work on the photographs from this shoot. I tried to match them with various different sort of common small birds but nothing quite fit. I finally asked some folks if they knew and one online friend quickly got back to me to say that they were female redwing blackbirds… which don’t have red wings and are not black! (He was sympathetic and suggested that others had been confused by these birds, too. Thanks, Chuq!)

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

Three Ross’s Geese, Blue Sky

July 2, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Three Ross’s geese directly overhead against blue morning sky

These Ross’s geese obligingly flew directly over head against a blue sky and in morning light… and, no, they did not drop any, uh, payload on me. (That has happened. It comes with the territory. Someone told me that somewhere in the world – Europe? – it is considered good luck to get “bombed” by a goose. I could write much more on this topic, but I’ll restrain myself. You may thank me later! ;-)

In any case…a difficulty when shooting birds passing overhead is that the light source is often higher than the bird, thus putting the parts of the bird facing the camera into shadow. But in very early or very late light – near sunrise or sunset – the sun is so low that it can cast light on the undersides of the birds, as in this photograph. When shooting this critters as they pass overhead in flight, while I can and do think about their positions in the frame and relative to one another, in the end I have to take what the birds give me. There is a lot that I cannot control about this kind of photography. It comes down to being observant, being able to work quickly and intuitively, and a whole bunch of luck regarding the birds, the light, and the weather.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: county

Launch For Hire Building

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Goose-filled Morning Sky

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Female Redwing Blackbirds

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Three Ross’s Geese, Blue Sky

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

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