Tag Archives: county

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

Raven on Fence Post

June 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A raven perches on a fence post above cattle ranch pasture, Point Reyes National Seashore

I had not gone to Point Reyes to photograph ravens. In fact, the thought of photographing these birds, which are not exactly high on my list of birds I love to photograph, had not even crossed my mind. I had a half day to do some shooting, so got up three hours before dawn and drove north through San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, into Marin County and then over to the coast, hoping to make it all the way out to the tip of Point Reyes to photograph Drakes Bay at sunrise. I didn’t make it quite in time, and instead ended up photographing Tomales Bay as the sun came up. After that I headed out on the road toward the point, but on a whim decided to finally drive up the Mount Vision Road, which I have always passed by on my way to other places. This was in interesting diversion, but after a while I remembered that a group of folks from the Bay Area was going to meet up to photograph the Point Reyes tule elk at around 9:00 a.m.

I figured I might try to join them, even though I haven’t really had that much luck photographing the elk in the area at the north end of the park where they are most easily found. (My best “elk experience” in the park was in a different area where I didn’t even expect to see them.) So I drove back a bit and then out on the road toward where the elk are found – in the area beyond Abbott Lagoon and near Pierce Ranch and McClure Beach. As I started out that road I saw a lot of birds of various sorts, so I stopped and grabbed my camera with the big lens from the trunk and put it on the seat next to me. (Smarter photographers than I probably normally keep such a setup handy while driving!) Sure enough, before long I started passing lots of birds along the road including this cooperative raven, who despite looking a bit nervous when I stopped close enough to make a photograph, stuck around long enough for me to get one shot… before other cars drove up and passed me and scared the bird away.

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

Beach and Rocks

June 20, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late afternoon light on a rocky beach near Pescadero, California

Last week I finally was able to get out and do a bit of landscape photography along the California coast south of San Francisco. (Various other obligations and activities have minimized time in the field recently, and may continue to do so for a few more weeks – but then… lots of time “in the field!”) This area is one of my quickest “gotta get out and shoot” locations, as I can be there in less than an hour, and “there” is one of the most spectacular coastlines I can imagine, ranging from calm and peaceful to towering cliffs and raging surf.

On this visit, things were relatively quiet – nothing like the winter surf of a few months ago. My hope was to find a coastal location in that border zone between fog and sunlight, where interesting and variable things can often happen with light. Starting from the Santa Cruz area, where it was almost perfectly clear, we headed north while keeping a watch on the fog bank hanging just off shore and appearing to get closer to the coast to the north. Eventually, near the Pigeon Point lighthouse, it looked like we might get to the point where the fog and the coast converged, but as soon as we arrived the fog pulled back a bit. In this late afternoon photograph, the sun was low enough that its light was beginning to be somewhat softened and warmed by passing through the thin layer of mist and fog.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Launch For Hire Building

June 18, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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

I shared a color version of this photograph back in March, not too long after I made the photograph. The building is an old wooden structure that sits on pilings above the waters of Tomales Bay, and is probably familiar (especially with its “LAUNCH FOR HIRE” sign) to almost anyone who passes by on the way to Point Reyes. In fact, that is precisely where I was headed. I had gone up there quite early, hoping to arrive early enough to be at Drakes Bay for sunrise. However, other sites along the way distracted me, and after I finished photographing them I found myself delayed, and the sun was rising over the Marin County hills as I drove around the bay. This photograph was made a few minutes later, after the very first light had already come and gone.

The “black and white or color?” question is a new one for those of us who started out photographing on film “back in the day.” Some of you reading this no doubt think that this context is obvious, but in a world in which some actually don’t understand, for example, how a rotary dial telephone worked, this context will likely soon become as unfamiliar as using a horse and buggy. Whether to shoot color or black and white was, only a bit more than a decade ago, a decision what was made well before clicking the shutter. Put black and white film in the camera and shoot black and white, or put color media in the camera and shoot color. (In most cases – with sheet film it was possible to choose, though that didn’t tend to be the work process of such photographers.) Now we have the odd advantage – or, sometimes, the burden – of having to decide based on the nature of the subject and how we see it. Quite a few photographers using digital media will tell you that they don’t always know for sure whether a shot will work best in black and white or color at the time of exposure. (Sometimes you do, but not always.) So we “capture” the scene in color and put off the final decision until the post-processing stage. Even there it can occasionally be hard to decide. This was one of those cases – and both the color and black and white versions live on for now.

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

Geese Take Flight in Dusk Sky

June 17, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Motion-blurred photograph of a flock of Ross’s geese taking flight in dusk sky above the San Joaquin Valley, California

This is another example of what I’ve taken to referring to my “blurreds in flight” photographs. (Yes, a bad pun on the common subject of “birds in flight,” also known as “bif” photographs.) Very early morning or dusk seem like good times to experiment with this, as the very dim light often pushes the ability of photographer and gear to continue to shoot as ISOs rise, apertures enlarge… and eventually one runs out of maneuvering room. Just lower that ISO and let the birds blur!

But that’s not really why I do these. While I suppose that I’m just as interested in trying to produce very sharp images of birds frozen in flight by high shutter speeds and accurate autofocus, I sometimes feel that this more clinical approach isn’t the only way to capture or express the qualities of these animals and what I can observe of their lives. In a sense, the still camera “lies” about what we can actually see of these birds when we are there and watching them. In low light, often observing from a distance, when a group of Ross’s geese suddenly takes flight in a wild maelstrom of honking and flapping wings, we really cannot see all of the specific details of each feather and the impression we have is more often one of wild motion and surprise. While I don’t think a photograph can ever fully or accurately depict this, allowing the motion to become visible by using slow shutter speeds might evoke a sense of these animals that the razor-sharp, stop-action photographs might miss.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: county

Raven on Fence Post

Like this:

Beach and Rocks

Like this:

Launch For Hire Building

Like this:

Geese Take Flight in Dusk Sky

Like this:

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

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

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