Tag Archives: great

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Central Valley Winter Sky

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Central Valley Winter Sky
Pre-sunrise winter sky and thin fog above Central Valley wetlands.

Central Valley Winter Sky. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pre-sunrise winter sky and thin fog above Central Valley wetlands.

These days it is hard to precisely put my finger on the character of California’s Great Central Valley, comprised of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys and the delta where they merge with the San Francisco Bay. Many years ago a drive though the valley was all about agricultural communities, but today things are less homogeneous. Some areas seem more like extensions of the urban San Francisco Bay Area — see towns along the busy I80 corridor and the “bedroom communities” from which long-distance drivers commute in each day. Other towns further into the Valley, including many along Highway 99, have become so large that their agricultural roots seem more distant. To be sure, agriculture remains pervasive in the Valley, as a drive though almost any portion of it will make clear.

Among the features that continue to define this valley for me are its flat geography and the vast expanse of uninterrupted sky. This photograph focuses on both. I chose to place the horizon very close to the bottom of the frame since that’s were it is when we look up at skies like the one in this photograph. It was very early on a late-winter morning, before the sun had come up. The light was blue and thin dawn tule fog was dissipating above these wetlands.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Morning Dance, Sandhill Cranes

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Morning Dance, Sandhill Cranes
A quartet of sandhill cranes dances in foggy morning light.

Morning Dance, Sandhill Cranes. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A quartet of sandhill cranes dances in foggy morning light.

About a week ago I made my first visit of the season to areas of California’s Central Valley where I like to photograph migratory birds in the late autumn and winter. Many birds have already arrived, but a month or so from now there will be all sorts of them (migratory and year-round residents) up and down the Great Valley: geese, cranes, ibises, herons, pelicans, egrets, and more.

This first visit was a brief one — I arrived early but left at midday. I had been thinking of making the trip for a week or so, but had not seen the weather I was hoping for. Then I heard that there might be a bit of tule fog — that’s my kind of weather! — so I quickly decided to get up hours before dawn the next morning and drive over there in darkness. It was still too early in the season to find the vast flocks of birds that will arrive later, but I did spot some large groups of sandhill cranes. This quartet was holding forth near a larger group, and at this moment had begun a vigorous performance of the crane dance.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Great Egret, Morning Light

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Great Egret, Morning Light
A great egret in California’s Central Valley

Great Egret, Morning Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A great egret in California’s Central Valley.

Way back when I was a college student I first “discovered” egrets. I was in a general education science course that consisted of a sequence of short seminars on various subjects, and the professor teaching one on ecology was obviously an egret fanatic. I don’t recall many specifics from the course, but I recall his passion for “snowy egrets.” Later on, as a dedicated cyclist, I often rode past creeks and canals in the Bay Area where I spotted great egrets (not the same critter as the snowy egret), often simply resting but sometimes in flight. At that time I regarded them as exotic birds, since they were still new to me.

Of course, I eventually learned that they are all over California, wherever there are wetlands — from the Pacific shoreline to the Central Valley. As I learned more about other birds — cranes, geese, herons, ibises — I came to regard the egret as a much less exotic bird. Yet, there is nothing quite like the flight of a great egret, with that long neck, the pure white plumage, and the gigantic wingspan. This one managed to stay put on the ground long enough for me to take its picture on a recent, first-of-the-season bird photography foray into the Central Valley.

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

Winter Sky, California

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Winter Sky, California
Winter evening sky above the San Joaquin Valley, California

Winter Sky, California. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter evening sky above the San Joaquin Valley, California

Photographers sometimes have a complicated relationship with sky. On one hand, quite a few of us tend to minimize its presence in photographs, especially when the sky isn’t special. The sort of blue sky day that seems beautiful to non-photographers (and beautiful to photographers when not making photographs!) often produces a plain blue expanse that can seem empty in a photograph. (Not always. It is also possible to use this in some cases, for example to suggest grand space and distance.) Among my photographer friends, quite a few work to minimize the presence of such skies or even eliminate it entirely — to the point that this can become an inside joke. I’ve heard people refer to certain photographs by one friend as “an extremely rare [insert photographer name] photograph of the sky.”

But sometimes the sky begs to be included, and on occasion it can be the main subject. To generalize, the most interesting skies often come in fall, winter, and perhaps spring in California, when much of the state gets its most interesting weather. (There are opportunities in summer, to — how about a clearing thunderstorm?) I made this sky photograph while I was busy photographing another subject. During a slow moment I looked away from that “other thing” and saw these clouds. I pivoted and made a few exposures, just as the last sunset light was illuminating the undersides of the clouds and already beginning to fade from the highest clouds against the darkest sky.

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.