Tag Archives: fog

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

Wetlands, Winter Fog

February 26, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Wetlands with thick early morning tule fog, San Joaquin Valley, California

The initial draw of this area of the San Joaquin Valley, with its wetlands and winter tule fog, was birds — the many thousands of seasonal migratory birds including geese, sandhill cranes, and ibises along with egrets, herons, pelicans, owls, hawks, an occasional eagle, and more. During winter, this agricultural area is given over almost completely to the is wildlife — something that I did not know for many years, despite living in California almost my entire life. However, the more I’ve photographed out here, the more my interest has evolved beyond just the birds to include the landscape itself, and especially the foggy landscape.

It is hard to describe the experience of being here in winter to a person who doesn’t share the experience. Frankly, the terrain is easily dismissed as the sort of thing you would drive through or past on your way to some place more interesting. That was certainly my notion, as I passed though here for years on my way to and from the Sierra. But out here on a cold, foggy and still winter morning, when your world closes down to perhaps a radius of a few hundred feet at best, and the sounds of birds come through the fog from all directions, this becomes a very special kind of place unlike any other that I know in this state.

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Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Umbrellas and Fog

February 23, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This is a photograph from about five years ago when we made a winter trip to Southern California and ended up spending a day at the Getty Center. Since the time our oldest son went to UCLA I have been a fan of the Center, at least as much for the architecture and the grounds as for the art displays. (The art is wonderful, too, and they have a special focus on photography that often takes me back there.)

This was just the sort of day when normal people might not want to visit the Getty: it was cold and rainy and eventually the rain mixed with fog. I had a wonderful time photographing the fog-obscured architectural landscape and made many photographs with people passing through it. In fact, I came back from this single day of shooting with a group of photographs I like a great deal. At this moment I happened to be in an upper courtyard in a place that overlooks the garden as groups of people carrying umbrellas approached the sharp bend in the walkway from both directions.

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

Sun Beams, Clearing Fog

February 17, 2015 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Afternoon sun breaks through clearing fog in the farm country of the San Joaquin Valley

This photograph, made late on a day spent photographing migratory birds and the landscape they inhabit, illustrates a bunch of things that seem important to me. Each one might be the subject of a short article, but I’ll try to keep it short in this post. One theme might be persistence or patience: This was not the easiest day of photography, with interesting thick fog early in the day, but a midday that seemed to be a bit aimless and included an unsuccessful visit to a nearby area, and a conclusion that was glorious in several ways. Another might be flexibility: I was there primary to photograph wildlife, but I was ready to switch gears and become a landscape photographer when the clouds began to break up in the very late afternoon. It also reminds me to the value of not focusing on the literal depiction of what passes for the objective reality of the landscape, and the importance of focusing on the mood of the place in a subjective way. And it provides an example of how two photographers, working from nearly the same spot, will make quite different photographs and come away with different kinds of successes.

A few days earlier I had photographed at this same location, and late that day I had convinced myself that there would be no great evening light, and I left early. Who knows what I missed as a result of that decision! This time, shooting with a group of friends, I was back on track and eager to shoot until the light was gone. It was an unusual day — great but challenging photography conditions early in the morning, followed by less exciting conditions later in the day. Then in the early evening a large flock of Ross’s geese assembled in a familiar spot and a few of us headed there and positioned the flock between ourselves and the sky to the west, where the clouds were finally starting to break up. During the last portion of the day we were treated to this cloud and light show as the sun played peak-a-boo with the clouds and to one of the most spectacular mass take-offs of geese that I have seen.

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

Sandhill Cranes, Fog

February 11, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of sandhill cranes flies low above foggy San Joaquin Valley wetlands.

I often ponder the relationship between my landscape photography and bird photography. I’d have to admit that one reason for photographing the birds is that it provides a great reason to spend days out in this foggy winter landscape of California’s Great Central Valley, a landscape quite different from others that I photograph. This land is almost completely flat, and the fog cuts off even the distant view of the mountains to the west and east. In the fog there is no sky, and there is barely a horizon, and the everything seems quiet — despite all those birds! — and mysterious.

While I’m out there with my camera, trying to make photographs of birds, I’m also on the lookout for landscape scenes that somehow embody the feelings of being in this place in the winter. Every so often all of the pieces fall into place, often quickly and almost without warning, and a simple scene emerges, as this one did. I think my primary frame of reference was the horizon fading in the fog, the scattered clumps of obscured trees, and the glowing atmosphere — and it was almost pure luck that this group of cranes entered the scene at just this moment.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: fog

Wetlands, Winter Fog

Umbrellas and Fog

Sun Beams, Clearing Fog

Sandhill Cranes, Fog

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