Tag Archives: flooded

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Bird, Flooded Fields

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Bird, Flooded Fields
Bird, Flooded Fields

Bird, Flooded Fields. Central Valley, California. January 23, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bird wades in a flooded Central Valley winter field in front of a receding line of power poles and some farm buildings on a levee.

This is (yet another!) photograph of the flooded fields along a country road near the Cosumnes River in California’s Central Valley. I was shooting almost directly into the sun through remaining fog and haze near the middle of a winter day. The building sits on a levee between the fields and the bird was kind enough to pose for me while I made the photograph.

Given one of the subjects subject that I’ve been discussing at the blog during the past few days, it seems reasonable to point out that this image involved significant work during the post-processing phase – what we used to refer to as “the darkroom,” but which we now refer to as “photoshop.” I used a variety of techniques to push this image towards what I had in mind – a very high key interpretation that I hope evokes the sensation of looking into a backlit hazy atmosphere that is so bright that you can barely look at it. (In fact, it was very much like this when I made the photograph – as you can see it required a 1/1000 second exposure at f/8 and ISO 100. That’s bright!) In general I brought the overall brightness up to nearly pure white in the lightest portions of the image, and I employed some other techniques to lower the amount of contrast in the sky yet keep the building, the poles, and the levee fairly dark. Although all of this was accomplished in the “digital darkroom,” all of the processes are equivalent to those that might have been applied by photographers working in the traditional darkroom.

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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

Central Valley Sky, Winter

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Central Valley Sky, Winter
Central Valley Sky, Winter

Central Valley Sky, Winter. Great Central Valley, California. January 23, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thin winter clouds drift above farmland, Central Valley, California.

Photographing these beautiful winter clouds above the California Central Valley near the Cosumnes River between Stockton and Sacramento involved a certain amount of luck. For the most part it had been an extremely foggy morning – so foggy that at a few points early in the day I simply couldn’t find anything to shoot. Eventually the light began to filter down through the tule fog and I had some good luck shooting further up the valley at the Cosumnes River Wildlife Preserve.

At a certain point as the fog begins to thin it goes through a phase that is not so photographically compelling. The very thick fog can be quite interesting, and the light can be very special just as the sun starts to force its way through the fog as it starts to clear. But they there is a period when it is sort of sunny and sort of foggy, and but perhaps lacks the best aspects of each of the two conditions. That is how it was at about the time I left the Preserve and started back down the valley on my drive home.

Much earlier in the morning I had visited this side road near a bend in the Cosumnes River, so I decided to try it again since it was only slightly out of my way on the return drive. I drove slowly all the way to the end of the side road – to where it runs into the levee at the river – and then turned around to start back. I saw lots and lots of waterfowl, including impressive sandhill cranes and beautiful white egrets, but they were all too far from the road or in areas that didn’t provide the right kind of background. Near these flooded fields I stopped to consider trying to photograph some of the birds, changed my mind, and instead decided to see what I could do with these buildings, the flooded fields, and the sky. It was my luck that this final stop coincided with the near clearing of the fog and the appearance overhead of these wonderful clouds.

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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: Structures and Objects

Flooded Field and Farm Structures

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Flooded Field and Farm Structures
Flooded Field and Farm Structures

Flooded Field and Farm Structures. Central Valley, California. January 23, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Agricultural facilities and Central Valley sky reflected in the surface of a flooded field.

This area turned out to be fun place to shoot. It is along a fairly nondescript road that branches off from Interstate 5 midway between Stockton and Sacramento and eventually dead-ends against a levee lining the Cosumnes River. I had been told that it is a good place to look for migratory birds – and, indeed, it is. Although it was hard to see them due to the very thick tule fog when I first arrived shortly after dawn, when I came back in the early afternoon the sky had cleared and the many fields, vineyards, and ponds along the road were filled with waterfowl.

I first saw this set of “structures” (silos? Being a “city boy,” I’m not certain of the right way to describe cylindrical storage facilities like this) as I drove out from Interstate 5 towards the river. They make for quite a striking sight – they are quite large, they are tall and the tower above is even taller, the brick colored roofs stand out against the other colors, and they are reflected in the still water of surrounding ponds. It was on my way back past them that I saw the view over this pond. I had just stopped to make another photograph of the ponds and I thought I was finished for the day – my thoughts were getting back to the highway and heading home. But I decided to walk down to a levee that let me place the structures and their reflections across the water and surround the image of the building and the thin horizon line with sky above and below.

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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

Flooded Farmland, Winter

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Flooded Farmland, Winter
Flooded Farmland, Winter

Flooded Farmland, Winter. Central Valley, California. January 23, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sky is reflected in the water of flooded winter farmland, Central Valley, California.

A few days ago I didn’t know that this spot existed. However, I happened to run into a colleague while getting a cup of coffee last week, and as we talked she mentioned that she had just visited the Cosumnes River Wildlife Preserve. We talked more, it sounded interesting, and she sent me some information about how to find the place, along with the description of how to get to the place where I made this photograph.

I started at this location very early in the morning, but it was so foggy that photography was almost impossible – at least the kind of photography that I had in mind. Although I was able to hear the birds that congregate out here, I was barely able to see them at all. So after driving to the end of this road where it runs into the Cosumnes River, I turned around and headed up the Central Valley a few more miles to find the Consumnes River Wildlife Preserve.

A few hours later the sun was beginning to shine through the fog at the Preserve and I felt that my work there was done. I checked the time, at it seemed like I might have just enough time to detour back out on this road and see if the prospects were any better now that the fog was thinning. Again I drove to the end of the road, but along the way I noticed these flooded fields and made a mental note to take a look at them on my return drive. So, on the way back I pulled over and noticed that the faint high clouds were reflecting in the surface of the shallow water, and shortly after I framed my photograph a couple of birds flew across the scene.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Email
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.