Tag Archives: evening

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Goose Bedlam

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Goose Bedlam
A large flock of geese in twilight flight above California’s Central Valley.

Goose Bedlam. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large flock of geese in twilight flight above California’s Central Valley.

Today I’m back from what will likely be my last opportunity of the season to photograph seasonal migratory geese here in California. I know that I photographed them on about this date last year… and that about a week later (on March 13, 2020) when I went to look for them they had left. I remember that date well, as it was the last such trip I took for a long time, as California was in the process of entering a fairly hard lockdown as the trajectory of the pandemic became clearer. In any case, these geese should be heading back to the arctic for the warm month any day now.

Near the end of their California visit they seem to become increasingly active, and that was the case this week. Although they did spend time on the ground feeding or settled on ponds, they were frequently in the air. As darkness approached a huge group of them — snow, Ross’s, white-fronted, and probably other geese — was in constant motion in an area of recently cleared fields. I like to photograph them at slower shutter speeds in the twilight since it seems to me that the motion blurring effect may suggest this wild activity better than pure stop-motion.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Evening in a High Place

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Evening in a High Place
Long evenng view across boulder-filled alpine meadows toward distant peaks, Yosemite National Park.

Evening in a High Place. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Long evenng view across boulder-filled alpine meadows toward distant peaks, Yosemite National Park.

This area is one I’ve visited many times — in fact I used to make an annual ritual out of returning. This place and others like it provide a rare and wonderful thing, the opportunity to wander alone, unbounded by trails, across a vast wilderness landscape, going wherever my interest and abilities may take me.

Recently I have had reason to review photographs from over a decade of visits to the Sierra backcountry with a group of fellow photographers (sometimes referred to as the “First Light group) with whom I’ve been fortunate to share many a golden hour. It is hard to be definitive about when this began, but in this case there are some clear markers in the timeline. Shortly before making this photograph back in 2008 I had just descended from a lake in a rocky hanging valley when I encountered a photographer heading in my direction. The photographers was a part of the group, and after Keith and I spoke briefly we each went our separate ways. Mine took me to this area of open meadows and long vistas as the day ended. As such, this might be considered among first photographs to emerge from this association.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese, Evening Sky

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Geese, Evening Sky
The evening sky filled with snow geese.

Geese, Evening Sky. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The evening sky filled with snow geese.

One thing that you don’t understand about bird photography until you do it, is that in order to experience truly remarkable, memorable moments you will spend a lot of time at the opposite end of the spectrum of exciting experiences. The vast majority of your time will be spend watching a quiet landscape in which it seems, at least superficially, that nothing much is going on. Truth be told, there will be moments (sometimes long “moments”) of boredom. You might nap. (I do!) You may do some reading, check your phone for news. Or, best of all, simply immerse yourself in the quiet.

But if you are willing to pay this easy price, you almost certainly will experience a few moments that make it well worth the effort. I still cannot get a particular foggy February morning out of my mind, even though it was years ago when the sun began to break through tule fog as thousands upon thousands of geese and cranes wheeled through the sky in constant motion. That morning, on its own, has led to many 3:00AM wake-up calls and long drives in the. This photograph is from a different but similar moment recently, when many thousands of geese erupted almost continuously from cornfields and filled the sunset sky around me.

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 | 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: England, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Summer Twilight, River Thames

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Summer Twilight, River Thames
“Summer Twilight, River Thames” — The twilight sky above the River Thames on a summer evening in London.

This photograph comes from the end of a memorable day in London back in 2013. Believe it or not, this was our first visit to that city. We made the best of it, staying there for about a week before departing for other destinations. Various relatives from the US and Europe also showed up while we were there, and it was on this day, if my memory is correct, that the whole gang had finally arrived and met up. We had just had dinner together and were now along the Thames watching the day come to an end.

This photograph brings up the subject of how to interpret scenes photographed in very low light. It was the beginning of summer twilight on this July evening — there was still light and color in the sky, but artificial light was becoming more visible as in became darker. My tendency is to interpret light in ways that bring more of it to the subject, but with night and near-night photography it is easy to go so far that you lose the sense of a dark environment. In this photograph I decided to keep things relatively dark, at least compared to what I could have done, in the hope that the effect would be close to how we would perceive the scene in person.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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