Tag Archives: ground

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Lone Tree, Morning

Image January 9, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I traveled to California’s Central Valley back in late December, when I saw a weather report calling for thick fog. Now normal people would specifically NOT choose to go there on one of its infamous fog days, when the tule fog can make driving nearly impossible. But I wanted to photograph in those conditions, so I headed over a few hours before sunrise. The fog was extremely thick along the way, and I was looking forward to even “worse” conditions at my destination. But a mile before I got there the fog thinned, dawn light shone through, and high clouds were visible in the soft light.

At first I was disappointed. I had gone to a lot of trouble to be there for fog, and now the fog was dissipating! But it didn’t take long to notice the compensatory visual appeal of the thinner haze and how it glowed in the early light. I found a slightly higher view point, located a lonely tree on the horizon, and made a few photographs.

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.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands, Dawn Light and Fog

Image January 1, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Happy New Year’s Day 2024! When this post appears on January 1, I’ll be in the field to greet the literal dawn of the new year with friends, fellow photographers, and few thousand migratory birds. With luck, it may be a morning like the one in the photograph, with beautiful soft light, a bit of fog, sunrise colors, and lots of wildlife all around. I hope that your new year begins as well!

This photograph comes from dawn on a December morning when I visited wetlands. My main goal was to photograph birds, but somehow I almost always end up photographing landscapes in such places. I arrived to some of my favorite conditions: the glow of pre-dawn light, thick fog, chilly air, and the sound of thousands of birds all around me.

Note: I’m starting the new year with a few changes at my website, including the new, simplified format for posted photographs and streamlined text. Since this is something of an experiment, don’t be surprised if I continue to make changes for a while.

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

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Jack Frost Plant

Image July 25, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Jack Frost (brunnera) plants growing under a forest canopy.

In one section of the garden we occasionally visit to make photographs, there is a small grove of (mostly) dogwood trees which are in an area shaded by larger trees. These dogwoods were done blooming when we visited, but they provided wonderful, deep shade to smaller plants growing beneath.

All sorts of interesting stuff grows in this shade, but on this visit I was mostly attracted to leaves. (Most of the flowers were already spent.) This clump of Jack Frost seemed downright lush, with not a damaged leaf in sight.

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

Wetlands Tree, Tule Fog

Image December 11, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A wetlands tree in thick autumn tule fog.

Believe it or not, this is a color photograph, made on a late-autumn morning in California’s Great Central Valley. The dense tule fog did not simply reduce visibility — it also drained the color right out of the landscape. Foggy landscapes can have color — the blue tones of thick fog in the very early hours, and the warmer tones of shallow fog glowing in sunrise light. But in this case it was a bit later, and the colors of the earliest light had faded and backlit fog glowed and muted the color.

When photographing a subject like this I find myself on a fine line between not enough fog and not enough detail. Sometimes the fog is so thick that a subject that seems visible in person has so little contrast that it almost is invisible in a photograph. But too much definition and the mystery of the fog diminishes. Here I think I have hit the middle ground — there’s perhaps just enough detail to delineate the broad features, but many fine details are missing or softened.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: ground

Lone Tree, Morning

Wetlands, Dawn Light and Fog

Jack Frost Plant

Wetlands Tree, Tule Fog

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