Tag Archives: dusk

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

Davenport Bluffs, Sunset

January 15, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

The last light shines on coastal bluffs and Davenport, California

On this early December day I had gone off to try to join a G+ “photowalk” that was purportedly taking place that day. I was looking forward to going to a few favorite local photography locations and to meeting some people who I’ve only known online. But it was not to be! I ended up being delayed at home and couldn’t leave in time to meet the group at their first location, Henry Cowell Park. I went with Plan B and figured I would try to join up with them at lunch in Davenport. I got there and didn’t see anyone, so I figured that I was early and I drove up the coast a bit. I came back to Davenport and thought they might be in one of the two restaurants, so I picked one and went in for lunch… by myself. (I found out later that, yes, they were in the other restaurant a hundred yards south.) After lunch I went across the road to the parking area when I thought folks might meet up, but still no luck – though I did see a few photographers out on the nearby bluff. I headed out there and finally ran into a couple of people from the group… which had gone down to a nearby beach area to shoot.

Finding interesting stuff up here on the bluff, I decide to work the location I found myself in rather than heading off and looking for something else. While the location was interesting, the light was initially unpromising. However, I thought there was a chance that things might improve later so I walked around and began doing some shooting. At one point, I talked to some other photographers about the somewhat bland lighting conditions and pointed out that it seemed to me that there was at least a chance that we might get a bit of interesting light as the sun dropped to the horizon, when the light can sometimes shine in below the clouds and produce some brief but beautiful conditions. This prediction turned out to be right, and I made this photograph just as the show was beginning, and warm-tone light was starting to hit the bluffs, beaches, and water.

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: Wildlife

Ross’s Geese, Golden Hour Fly-Out

January 11, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Ross’s geese take wing during the sunset fly-out, San Joaquin Valley, California

As happens often enough to make things interesting, the light at the end of this day of less-than-phenomenal light momentarily made up for some of the earlier “blah” light. It had been a good day of goose (and crane) chasing, but with few moments of sublime light so far. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since even when the light is not at its most astonishing out here, the air and the sound of the birds still makes it worthwhile, especially when a large flock of geese suddenly lifts off in unison or when the sound of cranes floats down as they coast overhead.

But still, we want that light! Just before sunset, as the hazy sky was already starting to dim, the last sun slanted in from the west at a low angle just as this flock of geese was beginning to fly out for the night. I made this photograph just a moment after the foreground group had taken to the air, but while other groups that had lifted off earlier were still visible beyond them as they departed over the grove of trees to the north.

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

Blue Geese, Red Sky

December 25, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Ross’s geese, blue in the fading light of the overhead evening sky, fly against the reds of a wild Central Valley sunset

Back in early December, 2012 we were out photographing migratory birds in California’s Central Valley, on a day that began with extremely thick tule fog, gradually transitioned to hazy sunshine, then was interrupted by the atmospheric muck of an incoming weather system, and ended with a surprising and astonishing sunset and post-sunset display of color. It seems that there must have been a gap between the clouds and the horizon somewhere far to our west, and as the sun dropped to the horizon the late and very red light shone up into the clouds, turning them blood-red (and, at times, pink and purple and orange and more.)

Right before this we had been parked near a very large flock of geese that were mostly grounded, but which would occasionally take off en masse and circle for a bit before settling back in, often quite close to where they started. I had been tracking and photographing them in the somewhat gloomy light, and when the brilliantly colorful sky arrived I was ready to try to take advantage of it. This created a challenge though, that is probably familiar to anyone who has photographed such a sky. It is very bright and (important to those shooting digital systems) very red – which means that it can be necessary to underexpose a bit to avoid seeing very strange things happen to the red channel in the image file. In addition, since I was shooting straight into this brilliant light here, the geese were backlit. So, in post I was faced with a couple of contradictory issues – I had to control the brightness of the sky while trying to regain a bit of detail on the bodies of the backlit and rather dark birds! About the “blue geese, red sky” title… Because the dimmer light falling on the portions of the geese facing me was largely diffused light from a non-colorful (e.g. – blue) part of the sky, their white feathers registered very much as blue.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Juniper Tree and Sandstone Cliffs, Evening

December 24, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Soft evening light on a single juniper tree among boulders at the base of tall sandstone cliffs, Capitol Reef National Park

This photograph was a serendipitous one that resulted from going to a somewhat unlikely place, and going there without a whole lot of enthusiasm, having only modest success at that place, and then while leaving happening to look up at the right moment and spot some very interesting and somewhat unusual post-sunset light. The plot began with an evening last-minute decision to go shoot “somewhere” in Capitol Reef, but without a specific objective in mind. We perhaps had some thoughts about shooting along the descent from Torrey, Utah toward the park boundary, but this is tricky late in the day due to the way the terrain slants up to the west, causing the sun to drop below the elevated horizon rather early and stealing the light from the foreground terrain.

When we passed the park boundary we still didn’t have a clear idea of what the evening’s “target” might be, so we drove slowly into the park, looking at many things but not seeing quite the photographic opportunities that might have caused us to stop. We finally decided to investigate a large canyon and drove to its entrance, parked, and walked in a ways. Because of the orientation of this canyon, the light here also left us rather soon. We made some photographs – a few of which might even turn out to be interesting – and then headed back out of the canyon. The way passed along the base of a very tall sandstone cliff formed from one of the thicker layers of sedimentary rock. Typically the rock would appear darker and redder, but the soft post-sunset light changed the tones to an almost pastel effect – and we both quickly decided to stop and do some shooting. This lone juniper trees was growing improbably in the middle of a pile of very large boulders that had fallen from the cliffs, and those cliffs were catching the late and soft light from the west.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: dusk

Davenport Bluffs, Sunset

Ross’s Geese, Golden Hour Fly-Out

Blue Geese, Red Sky

Juniper Tree and Sandstone Cliffs, Evening

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