Tag Archives: golden

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Yosemite Autumn Foliage 2013

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I have had a few final photographs of this season’s autumn color in Yosemite Valley sitting on my computer for several weeks now, waiting their place in the queue of photographs for the blog. That queue had become quite long, what with the overlap of remaining photographs from last summer, lots of other autumn color photographs, and now the onset of winter subjects such as migratory birds and so forth. Since these photos have been bumped to the back of the line too many times already, I have decided to simply share them as a group today.

Autumn Meadow and Cottonwood Trees
Autumn Meadow and Cottonwood Trees

Autumn Meadow and Cottonwood Trees. Yosemite Valley, California. October 30, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved. – Afternoon light on cottonwood trees with fall foliage in a Yosemite Valley meadow, backed by the lower face of Cathedral Rocks.

Autumn Maple Leaves, Forest
Autumn Maple Leaves, Forest

Autumn Maple Leaves, Forest. Yosemite Valley, California. October 31, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved. – A final burst of autumn big leaf maple color in a Yosemite Valley forest

Autumn Thicket
Autumn Thicket

Autumn Thicket. Yosemite Valley, California. October 31, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved. – A nearly bare riverside thicket, Yosemite Valley

Riverbank Cottonwood Trees, Autumn
Riverbank Cottonwood Trees, Autumn

Riverbank Cottonwood Trees, Autumn. Yosemite Valley, California. October 31, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved. – Trees with golden autumn leaves grow among evergreens along the bank of the Merced River

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Marsh Pond and Trees

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Marsh Pond and Trees
Marsh Pond and Trees

Marsh Pond and Trees. San Joaquin Valley, California. November 24, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Reflected fall colors of trees and grasses at a flooded California Central Valley marsh.

One more photograph from my late-November “wild goose chase” to California’s Central Valley. My main goal was probably to photograph migratory birds, including geese, but that never keeps me from also photographing the landscape. Although the skies were completely clear when I left home well before dark for the two-hour drive to this place, when I arrived there a thick fog was developing in this seasonal marshland… which is just what I had hoped for! The final 15 minutes of my drive were in mostly thick fog, and when I actually arrived the early morning light was almost completely muted by fog.

A bit later this morning, after my first circuit of the place, as I began a second lap around the ponds and marshes, the thick fog had given way to a soft atmospheric haze that allowed some sun to penetrate but which also muted the intensity of the autumn colors of grasses and cottonwood trees and other plants. For a few minutes I took off my wildlife photographer hat and put on my well-worn landscape photographer hat (you didn’t know I carried multiple hats, did you?!) and photographed the isolated trees along the levees between the marshes.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | 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.

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

Marsh Grasses and Fog, Dawn

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Marsh Grasses and Fog, Dawn
“Marsh Grasses and Fog, Dawn” — Golden dawn light illuminates autumn fog drifting above marshland grasses in California’s Central Valley.

I went to this place to photograph birds – at least that was my excuse. In the past few years I have become passionate about photographing migratory birds in the Great Central Valley of California between late fall and early spring – geese, cranes, herons, ibises, and more. Once you hear the cries of these birds as thousands of them flock together on the ground or in water or, better yet, as they fly overhead, you can become obsessed. In the fall I anticipate their return and watch for early signs. A few weeks ago we managed to find cranes further up the valley, and I knew that the geese wouldn’t be far behind – so this trip was, literally, a “wild goose chase.”

But the truth is a bit more involved. As much as I love the birds, I think that I’m at least as attracted to landscapes where they are found, and to the weather conditions of this season. You might think that a bird photographer would want clear skies and bright light, but I look forward more to fog, clouds, and mist and other kinds of interesting atmosphere. It occurs to me that the birds may partially be my excuse for visiting this landscape. I was expected that it might be clear on this morning, so I was happy (strange photographer!) when I drove into thick fog a few miles from my destination. I arrived just before dawn as the sky was somewhere in that color range between blue and purple and pink, but just barely visible though the murk. I made a few true sunrise photographs that included a barely visible sun behind fog and clouds, then moved on along a gravel road to try to locate the cranes that I could hear. As I came to a right angle turn, the fog stretched beyond the nearby grasses and straight toward the low sun in front of me, thick enough that all details in the distance disappeared (with the exception of a few barely visible birds) into a luminous glow that was almost painfully intense

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cottonwood Trees, Reflection

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Cottonwood Trees, Reflection
Cottonwood Trees, Reflection

Cottonwood Trees, Reflection. Yosemite Valley, California. October 30, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cottonwood trees with fall foliage reflected in the Merced River

Believe it or not, this is the mighty Merced River, draining a vast section of the Yosemite High Sierra that extends all the way to the highest peaks of this section of the Sierra crest. On this late October afternoon, on a dry day during a dry month at the end of the second of two drought years in the Sierra, the river felt in many ways more like a creek. The water moved slowly, gently rippling over rocks in the shallow sections and pooling in the deeper areas where the movement of the water was almost invisible. The contrast between this scene and what the river can do is apparent when your realize that these trees could be standing in very deep water during the peak runoff floods of a wet year.

I had wandered out to this relatively accessible location in the afternoon, drawn by the golden cottonwood trees that were approaching their peak autumn color, the brilliant fall backlight from the low afternoon sun down the Valley to the west, the shadowed granite face beyond, and the possibility of using the river as an element in photographs. I was apparently not the only person with this idea, and when I arrived I found perhaps a half-dozen painters occupying strategic spots on gravel bars, the beach, and along the banks. I made some photographs that included these artists, but I also contrived to exclude them from some of the compositions, including this one that brought together all of those elements that I came here to find.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | 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.