Tag Archives: fog

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

Morning Frost, Fog, and Trees

January 2, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Foggy sunrise light on San Joaquin Valley trees and winter frost

This is quite literally a photograph of the dawn of 2015, made as the sun rose on January 1, 2015. A group of photographer friends has developed what seems to be becoming a tradition: meeting before dawn at a central California location to greet the first sunrise of the year, and then spending the day photographing wildlife and landscape, sharing lunch and stories, and generally having a great time. (This was the third New Year’s Day we have done this.) I suppose that an added benefit of this is that getting up at 4:00 AM on New Year’s Day means that staying up to midnight the night before is not an option!

This place is often very foggy at this time of year — the sort of fog that slows you down to a crawl as you drive along Central Valley back roads. It was supposed to be clear and cold on New Year’s Day. It certainly was cold — 23 degrees at one point. But although it was clear everywhere else, we still have fog in the early morning. We headed out to a spot where we thought the wildlife and sunrise light would be great and waited for dawn. Even though the spectacular sunrise was playing out to my east, I loved the way the light and fog and frost worked together on this scene to my north.

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

Evening Sky, San Joaquin Valley

January 2, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

In late December, as winter began, we spent a day photographing in our favorite area of the San Joaquin Valley, where we shoot migratory birds and the austere and often atmospheric landscape of the Central Valley. The primary excise for going there at this time of year is virtually always the birds: geese, ibises, sandhill cranes, herons, egrets, white pelicans, and many more. For most of the day this was our primary subject, starting in the thick early morning fog and continuing as it began to lift, and then later when we returned after lunch to find a bit more light getting through.

Very late in the day the bird action diminished — many of the geese were in nearby areas that are inaccessible to us, and other birds were either quieter or hidden in more distant locations. It seemed like the bird photography was winding down for the day. (Though there was a special surprise a bit later on.) At about this time, what had been a thick deck of fog and clouds began to break up to the west, and just before sunset the clouds thinned enough to let in some direct soft light which glowed luminously on the clouds and in the hazy atmosphere. Oh, about that surprise… A bit later it really seemed like the birds were unusually quiet and we pretty much stopped photographing them as the light began to fade. (Often we continue shooting until it is simply too dark to focus and make exposures.) The members of our group, who had been spread over several miles of this particular refuge, collected together near the exit to say goodbye… as cranes arrived, followed moments later by a deep dusk fly-in by thousands of geese who landed in near darkness on the pond next to where we were standing and watching.

Soft evening clouds above San Joaquin Valley wetlands

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Calero Oaks and Summer Grass

August 28, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Oak and grass-covered summer hills extending into late summer morning haze

This is a portrait orientation version of more of less the same scene I shared in an earlier photograph from the same mid-August morning hike through a familiar, long time favorite local hiking and photography location. It is an area full of grasslands and oak-covered hills, lush and green for a few months each winter and spring, and then California gold/brown for much of the rest of the year. I have hiked these hills and this specific trail for many years, though it had been several months since my last prior visit — it was good to be “home” again!

This morning was special for a few reasons. There was a wonderful feeling of returning to “my world” following a few months away from this place and my return, only days earlier, from a lengthy trip to the east coast that included more than a week in the very urban environment of New York City. It also turned out, a bit to my surprise, that this hike would bring my annual “autumn is just around the corner” experience — that day each year when something tells me clearly that summer is beginning to wind down and that the beauties of autumn are not far away.

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

Oaks and Grass, Late Summer

August 18, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Late summer morning fog clears about oak and grass-covered California hills

Today’s photographic journey was a short one — back to a local park where I have photographed for quite a few years, though not recently. This is a place that I used to go to almost every week, and where I hiked just about every trail, to the point that I became intimately familiar with the place in all seasons. It is a landscape of rolling hills with a few high, rocky outcroppings, many oak trees, and grassland. In the manner of most of California, the grass deeply affects the appearance — changing from “impossible green” in winter and spring to brown or golden, depending upon your disposition. I think of it as golden.

This morning I was in a bit of an autumn frame of mind. (A separate post today will have more to say about that pleasant state.) I got up early to discover that the area was covered by the typical coastal high fog. (I live perhaps an hour’s drive from the Pacific Ocean.) This is not the sort of romantic and moody fog that sits low to the ground and floats among trees. It is the higher, drab, gray kind of fog that produces an undifferentiated sky and very flat light. However, at this time of year that fog will most certainly clear, usually by mid-morning. So I left home in these gray conditions, planning to be among the oaks and grass when the fog began to break up.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: fog

Morning Frost, Fog, and Trees

Evening Sky, San Joaquin Valley

Calero Oaks and Summer Grass

Oaks and Grass, Late Summer

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