Tag Archives: fly

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

Taking to the Air

December 3, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A group of snow geese take to the air in early morning light above a San Joaquin Valley marsh

I never know exactly what I’ll find when I go out to shoot a subject like that which I focused on today, namely migratory birds out in the San Joaquin Valley of California. While there is a certain amount of knowledge and technique that goes into photographing this subject in this place, there is also a whole bunch of guesswork, luck, and happenstance. The part that I can chalk up to planning includes the choice to be in this place on a cold morning before dawn, enough familiarity with the place to know where to look for the birds and where the light might be good at certain times of day, and enough experience photographing these birds to have developed some knowledge and instincts that I can put to work.

However, so much is not in my control. On this morning I found a good size flock of (mostly) snow geese in a place where I don’t usually see so many of them, and they were closer to the place from which I can photograph than they usually are. So I stopped and photographed them and waited. Not much seemed to be happening at first – the birds mostly just sat in the shallow water – but the light was interesting, slanting in from the right where the sun had just cleared the horizon. When things seem static, there is no clear answer to the question of whether to wait for something to happen or to move on and look for something else. This time my hunch was that it might be worth waiting. And this time that hunch turned out to be the right one. (Just as often it isn’t!) As I waited I found some slightly better angles to shoot from, and eventually additional geese began to arrive and settle in with the group already there. Often some of the most interesting shots are during very brief instants of action, such as the sudden and unexpected lift-off of a flock of birds. So, after standing and watching and seeing little happen for some time, suddenly a lot may happen almost too quickly to photograph it. It pays to be ready to respond quickly. This group of snow geese was not too far in front of me, and when they suddenly took to the sky I was ready to track them as they lifted off. If you look closely you may be able to see water droplets falling from them as they leave the pond.

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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Calf, Cottonwoods, and Cranes in Flight

November 29, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A calf grazes near a row of autumn cottonwood trees on a foggy morning and as sandhill cranes fly overhead

On this foggy morning I had begun photographing a bit earlier, just at dawn. I gradually worked my way along a gravel country road, stopping frequently – spending more time stopped than driving, actually – to photograph the foggy landscape and migratory birds. At this early hour, the sandhill cranes were my primary targets. At times, when the fog cleared a bit, it was possible to see many of them taking off for distant points as the day began. When the fog thickened, they were heard more than seen, at least until they flew close enough to momentarily appear overhead through the fog.

In a place where the road paralleled a row of cottonwood trees with golden autumn leaves I stopped to wait for the birds to fly overhead. From a distance away I had figured out that many of the cranes were headed this way as they took off, so it seemed that if I stopped and waited here quietly the birds might come to me. And they did – every few minutes another group would fly low over my position. I shared this spot with a herd of cattle, quite a few of whom found me to be the most interesting thing in their early morning world and stared quietly at me. One calf that had passed beneath a fence around the pasture was busy grazing along the lane, so I stopped and photographed it beneath the cottonwood trees as a group of sandhill cranes passed overhead.

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

Approaching Geese, Evening

February 13, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ross’s geese approach their evening landing spot on a hazy late-autumn evening in California’s Central Valley.

This is yet another photograph of Ross’s geese from our December 2012 trek to the migratory bird areas of California’s Central Valley. We saw nearly all of the possible seasonal weather types on this day, save actual rain (that held off for another day) and clear, unfiltered sunlight. But other than that the day transitioned from so-thick-you-can-barely-drive tule fog, to clearing and drifting fog, to fog burning off, to brilliantly luminous winter haze, to dull and gray light as the first clouds of an incoming storm began to arrive, to the finale of a suddenly and unexpectedly colorful sunset.

After a mid-afternoon break to grab a bit to eat, we returned to this wildlife refuge in hopes of photographing the fly-in. Indeed, there were many thousands of Ross’s geese around, settled into pastures and occasionally lifting off to circle the area and then land again. But the light became increasingly dull as the first clouds of an approaching Pacific winter weather system arrived in the west. I made this photograph in what was, in many ways, rather gloomy light, though it is apparent that the sky is just beginning to pick up a hint of the pink that soon developed into a downright amazingly intense sunset. At this particular point in the evening I had positioned myself beyond the end of a large flock that stretched from nearly my position to the line of trees seen in the distance. It seemed that many of the geese were starting to move from the far end of the flock to closer to my position, so I was a in a good spot to photograph them straight on as they approached, and I had managed to position the slightly darker trees behind them, allowing their lighter bodies to stand out a bit. This group was just about to set down not far in front of me.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Central Valley, Winter Dusk

February 9, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A line of geese fly in front of the first clouds of an approaching winter storm front above California’s Central Valley.

This photograph was made at a late enough time in the evening that it was becoming hard to see in the same detail that the camera has. The sun had gone down and the light reflected up into the clouds was beginning to fade, and Central Valley haze filled the air, partially obscuring the details on anything more than a few hundred feet away.

We were surprised and pleased to have a spectacular sunset as the clouds of an incoming weather system that had early blocked the light were now lit up from below as the sun dropped to the horizon. The intense colors of the red clouds were almost too bright to photograph. Here I used a long lens to isolate a small section of the terrain to the west that held a group of silhouetted trees, with the Coast Range mountains beyond, and the sky turning all shades of purple, orange, and red. Although it may be difficult to see in this small jpg, a long line of geese is traveling from right to left high in the sky.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: fly

Taking to the Air

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Calf, Cottonwoods, and Cranes in Flight

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Approaching Geese, Evening

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Central Valley, Winter Dusk

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

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