Tag Archives: fog

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes, Fog, Island

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Cranes, Fog, Island
A small flock of sandhill cranes at the edge of a small island and reflected on a pond on a foggy morning

Cranes, Fog, Island. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small flock of sandhill cranes at the edge of a small island and reflected on a pond on a foggy morning.

Sometimes I photograph birds (and other subjects) accompanied by various friends and fellow photographers. Other times I go alone. I enjoy both, though there is something special about being “out there” in the wilds on my own as I was on the morning when I made this photograph. Working alone (and sometimes working with kindred spirits, too) allows a kind of intense focus on the subject that borders on obsessions. But, perhaps ironically, it also permits a sort of slow and aimless work that simply allows things to happen.

This was that kind of morning. I was, indeed, quite focused on locating and photographing birds and the foggy morning landscape, and an observer might have wondered when I occasionally stopped and worked one subject for extended periods of time. These cranes were standing in shallow water, and I watched them for some time until they finally seemed to have had enough of me, and they took flight and departed for some distant location.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese, Pond, Dawn Sky

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Geese, Pond, Dawn Sky
Ross’s geese in a wetland pond on a foggy morning beneath dawn sky

Geese, Pond, Dawn Sky. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ross’s geese in a wetland pond on a foggy morning beneath dawn sky.

There is often a particular esthetic around bird photography that concentrates on close photographs of individual birds. I’ve often thought that the reasons for this particular approach are several. For some bird photographers – though not so much for me — this work is an outgrowth of “birding,” and in that endeavor being able to view individuals close up is a goal. There’s also an element of the technical challenge. It isn’t easy to get in position to fill the frame with one bird, and it is even more difficult when the bird is in flight. On top of that, we must acknowledge that for at least a subset of bird photographers, the acquisition and use of really big and really expensive lenses has its attractions.

I’m not immune to those things, but I often find myself approaching birds in a somewhat different way. Few of my photographs feature a single bird filling the frame. (I can do that, and I have, just not that often.) More typically, the photographs include a group of birds — a couple of them together or perhaps thousands — and place them in the landscape. The latter is quite likely linked to my long interest in the landscape as a subject. This photograph clearly fits that lineage — it is what I think of as a “birdscape,” a photograph including birds in the landscape they occupy. I made this photograph in a water-filled place on a foggy morning when soft and colorful dawn light briefly lit the sky.

David Hoffman and I have an exhibit of “birdscapes” opening very soon at Stellar Gallery in Oakhurst, California, near the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. If you’ll be in the neighborhood — going to see the Yosemite Valley snow or to photograph Horsetail Fall? — stop by and take a look at our photographs!

February 16th-March12th. Reception February 16 5-8:00PM. Stellar Gallery, Oakhurst, California

Birdscapes — David Hoffman and G Dan Mitchell
Birdscapes — David Hoffman and G Dan Mitchell

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 and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Taking Flight, Sandhill Cranes

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Taking Flight, Sandhill Cranes
A group of sandhill cranes takes to the morning sky above foggy marshland

Taking Flight, Sandhill Cranes. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of sandhill cranes takes to the morning sky above foggy marshland.

This photograph continues the theme for the next week or so, leading up to the opening on February 16 of “Birdscapes,” my joint show with David Hoffman at Stellar Gallery in Oakhurst. Today’s photograph comes from rather early in the Pacific Flyway season, way back in November. At this point the earliest winter birds are just arriving and others are still in transit from their summer breeding grounds. On this morning the main show was sandhill cranes, though a few other individual birds showed up, too — egrets, perhaps a few ibises, and lots of “little brown birds.”

The more I am around birds the more I realize that they spend a lot of time doing… not much, or at least not much that seems very active. But interjected into these mostly slow periods are some very active and dynamic moments. Among them are take-offs and landings. These birds are somewhat large, and getting airborne is no simple thing — there is a lot of initial jumping and flapping and perhaps even a bit of footwork to get things moving. This group was just taking flight from a shallow bond on a morning of thin and clearing fog.

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 and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands, Autumn Tree

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An isolated tree with autumn foliage and a foggy wetland morning

Wetlands, Autumn Tree. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An isolated tree with autumn foliage and a foggy wetland morning.

This colorful tree illustrates something I learned about California (and western states) fall color some years ago — namely that it lasts a lot longer than you might think! I can often spot a few first hints of autumn color in the Sierra Nevada high country as early as late August, when corn lily plants start to go dormant and turn yellow and then brown. Soon after that some meadows begin to turn red as bilberry changes colors and a few yellow aspen leaves turn up here and there. By late September there is plenty of color in the highest elevation areas, and it works its way down to the road-served front country by or before the start of October. The color continues to descend to valleys at the base of the eastern Sierra throughout October, and by the start of November there is a lot of color in the western Sierra foothills. This color spreads throughout the state’s lowlands through November and right on into December. A month ago, close to Christmas, I saw beautiful cottonwood color along a Southern California river.

I photographed this wetland tree (though there may be more than one on the small island) a few days into December, on a morning that was technically late-autumn but which felt more like winter. It had been foggy at sunrise, but as the morning wore on and the sun rose higher the fog began to thin. This soft light highlighted the yellow and folder colors of this quintessential California scene.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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