Tag Archives: haze

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Clouds and Light, Big Sur Coast

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Winter Clouds and Light, Big Sur Coast
Cloudy, hazy atmosphere with dissipating fog and light ahead of an incoming Pacific storm along the Big Sur coast

Winter Clouds and Light, Big Sur Coast. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cloudy, hazy atmosphere with dissipating fog and light ahead of an incoming Pacific storm along the Big Sur coast.

Every time I visit the Big Sur coastline, to be honest, I think that I’m going to discover that there isn’t much new to see. After all, I’ve been visiting for literally decades, since I was a child and my parents took us there on family trips. Yet every single time I find something I haven’t seen before — a new overlook, a different condition of atmosphere and light, a side road I hadn’t noticed, a cliff-side home where I had not see one, some new color in the water.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve stopped and photographed in this spot or close to it before, but this light was different from anything I recall. It was an unusual combination of conditions. In the far distance the clouds of an incoming weather system darkened the southern sky. (Typically, it remains light in that direction longer as fronts approach.) There was a bit of fog under an inversion layer… which I wouldn’t usually expect to see as an arriving front increases the onshore winds. Despite the darker clouds, a bit closer to me there was filtered sunlight reflecting off the water. And the entire scene was softened by a slightly opaque atmosphere.

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 in Pre Dawn Sky

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Geese in Pre Dawn Sky
Strings of migratory geese fly high above farm country before dawn

Geese in Pre Dawn Sky. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Strings of migratory geese fly high above farm country before dawn.

I never know exactly what I’ll find when I show up to photograph birds. It might be foggy or the sky might be clear from horizon to horizon. There might be thousands of geese… or none at all. (And when there are none… they might show up later in the day.) The rising sun may produce brilliant colors, or it may be muted by low clouds.

If I recall correctly, we had hoped for fog on this morning — New Year’s Day — but instead found fairly clear weather. There was some thin fog hanging around, but it had more of the quality of a sort of atmospheric haze than of regular fog. And above this haze the clear sky was visible and changing colors in the first light. High above the geese were already active, and long chains of them flew high above us.

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

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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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

Autumn, Eastern California Mountains

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Autumn, Eastern California Mountains
Early autumn color in mountains east of the Sierra Nevada

Autumn, Eastern California Mountains. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early autumn color in mountains east of the Sierra Nevada.

This was a wonderful day in many ways — as a mountain experience, as photography, and as an exploration. I was in the Eastern Sierra Nevada in mid-September, that post-Labor Day period when the crowds diminish and the weather starts to change convincingly in the direction of autumn, but still with warm and sunny days. On this day I woke very early and decided to head east of the Sierra. I was on the road before dawn, and I ended up exploring an area that was mostly new to me.

I was surprised by the number of aspen trees out here that had already changed colors. In the locations I frequent in the Sierra the change was mostly still a week or two away, but here many trees were already showing peak color. As I explored I found a high overlook — the summit of a low peak — where there were expansive views across layers of receding forested mountain ranges.

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.