Tag Archives: dormant

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sky

Wetlands, Winter Sky

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Wetlands, Winter Sky
“Wetlands, Winter Sky” — A fog-draped landscape of water and sky and clouds,, Central Valley, California.

Recently I was thinking about a particular sort of “moment of consciousness” that I’ve experienced a few times. It usually (though not that often!) comes when I’m in a natural place where more or less nothing is happening and my pace has slowed. It is hard to define precisely what these moments are or force them to happen, but when they do come they are palpable. There’s a sense of immense stillness and of time almost stopping. For me it has come on a few occasions in the desert or in the mountains, alone on a windless and silent day..

I think it could come in a place like this, too. At one point this week I paused and just sat quietly and considered what is happening most of the time in this wetlands location. The answer is: nothing obviously remarkable. A few birds move about slowly and almost silently (until the geese and cranes arrive!), the water is still, and the sky seems fixed and luminous. I’m not sure that a photograph can embody all of that, but perhaps it can be a reminder.

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 Winter Trees at Sunrise

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Three Winter Trees at Sunrise
Three winter trees in soft sunrise light on a misty Central Valley morning.

Three Winter Trees at Sunrise. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three winter trees in soft sunrise light on a misty Central Valley morning.

This is another photograph from my first-week-of-March visit to the Central Valley. My objective was to photograph migratory birds one more time before their March departure for the far north. Once on the scene my goals shifted more towards landscape photography, as many of the birds had dispersed a bit more widely than usual and were in areas that were not accessible. Recent heavy California rains had produced pooling water nearly everywhere, so the birds were not all in their familiar locations. Fortunately, the trees had not moved.

In other recent posts I have mentioned the surprise appearance of tule fog on this morning. The day started out crystal clear, and lacking the expected bird subjects I decided to photograph these trees at sunrise. I was so intent on this that the slightly muted quality of the light didn’t trigger my “maybe there will be fog” instincts. But when I look at this photograph now I can see that the conditions were already starting to develop. But at the moment I made the photograph, all I saw was the soft, reddish sunrise light on the trunks of these trees.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Tree and Pond

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Winter Tree and Pond
A winter-barren tree at the edge of a foggy pond.

Winter Tree and Pond. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A barren winter tree at the edge of a foggy pond.

This scene was an unexpected opportunity on my Central Valley visit during the first week of March. When I arrived in the predawn light, the sky was completely clear — so clear that the sunrise photography was actually a bit disappointing. But I try to make the best of what I have to work with, so I did some photography in the first dawn light and then moved on. Then, perhaps an hour later and to my complete surprise, tule fog began to develop, and before long the visibility was down to, well, what you see in this photograph.

I headed back to this spot, which I had passed without bothering to pause in that earlier light, and now the fog turned this bare tree and pond into quite an atmospheric scene. The fog often transforms rather unremarkable scenes into something much more interesting, mostly by muting the visibility of distracting elements and leaving the main features and forms.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Tree, Evening Sky

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Winter Tree, Evening Sky
A bare winter cottonwood silhouetted against dusk sky, California Central Valley.

Winter Tree, Evening Sky. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A bare winter cottonwood silhouetted against dusk sky, California Central Valley.

This photograph is an example of why I always try to remember to not get so focused on the primary subject that I forget to look around. I was here to photograph migratory birds, and at this point in the evening they were putting on quite a show, rising and flying in giant circles directly in front of us in the evening light. But when I took a moment to look behind I saw the trees and the colorful evening sky.

This was an “interesting” day in weather terms. I didn’t actually have very high hopes for it as no fog was forecast (and I love to photograph these subjects on tule fog day) and early clouds from a incoming weather system were predicted to turn the sky gray, with extreme winds predicted for the afternoon. All of that happened, but it turned out that the sky cleared again in the afternoon, and the winds may have slowed the birds a bit is struggled to overcome its strength.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.