Tag Archives: haze

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

Marsh and Trees, San Joaquin Valley

March 29, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Scattered trees grow in the marshland of the San Joaquin Valley, California

This photograph comes from a trip to California’s Central Valley on New Years Day with a group of friends – and I can’t imagine a better way to start a new year then by meeting up with friends in the pre-dawn darkness to begin a day photographing the migratory birds and generally hanging out with good people!

For me, photographing these marvelous birds turns out to be about more than the birds themselves, as remarkable as they are as a visual subject. There is a whole range of sensory associations that come to mind when I think of these winter visits to the marshlands to photograph the geese and cranes and other birds. The sound of thousands of geese never ceases to (literally) make me smile when I first hear it, and the sound of the cranes, especially when it comes from overhead or float through the fog, is evocative. The cold and damp and frequently foggy atmosphere is part of it, as is the long drive through the pre-dawn darkness (sometimes alone) and then arriving to find friends waiting. And the landscape itself draws me, which surprises me given how much it contrasts with the wilder landscapes of mountains and deserts and coastline. Often when I’m photographing birds, I interrupt that work to photograph this landscape, which is what I did here. I lined up a few trees, side-lit by the slightly fog-softened light, against the blue haze of clearing tule fog.

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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Alcatraz, Sunrise

March 25, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Alcatraz Island silhouetted against reflected sunrise light on San Francisco Bay

On this morning I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge heading north around dawn, on my way to redwoods and the coast. As I cross the bridge I’m always on the lookout for potentially interesting conditions of light or atmosphere or interesting things happening on the bay. Having heard a weather forecast of “no fog,” I was a bit surprised to find… fog in the hills on the north side of the bridge, along with a slightly opaque atmosphere over the bay. I wouldn’t call that “fog” exactly – more like “could have been fog if the wind had blown a different direction or the temperature had been a bit colder.” In any case, it was an interesting development – more interesting to me than the potential for perfectly clear air.

So I left highway 101 on the north side of the bridge and detoured briefly up into the Marin Headlands, not sure what my subject might be but certain that the light looked interesting. I started to wander out to a spot where a view across the “Gate” is found, but didn’t get that far. Instead, I found interesting light in other directions – down toward Sausalito, across the Bay toward the Embarcadero and the Bay Bridge and, as in this photograph, Alcatraz. By good fortune it happened that on this morning the reflection of the rising sun was just in line with the left edge of the island. This light is almost too bright to look at, but with a long lens and the right exposure the camera can look at it just fine! The water tower on the island casts a shadow on the reflections in front of Alcatraz, and beyond the flat area of Treasure Island is visible, with even more reflective bay water beyond that. Oakland and the East Bay hills and shoreline are completely lost in the golden haze.

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

White Pelicans in Flight

March 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of white pelicans crosses the marsh before landing at a San Joaquin Valley wildlife refuge

I believe that I have written in the past about the first time I saw white pelicans in the Central Valley of California. The preface to that story is that I somehow managed to live in this part of California for my whole life without realizing that this valley is filled with an amazing diversity of migratory wildlife every winter, so I’m still “discovering” things that many other take for granted. In any case, I was out in the valley at one of the wildlife refuges on a very foggy morning when it was impossible to see more than a few dozen feet into the murk. I could hear birds, but certainly not see them. I stopped and opened the window of the car to listen, and almost immediately a flock of large birds coasted silently into and out of sight. I was somewhat taken aback and thought for a moment that they “looked like pelicans,” but since I had no idea that such birds would be found here I dismissed the thought. Later that day my friends began to talk about seeing “white pelicans,” and later they showed me where a flock was resting on a small island in a marsh.

This flock arrived late in the day and was again unexpected. We had travelled to the edge a marsh to watch a large flock of Ross’s geese. They were settled in for the afternoon, but we knew that they would begin to fly out as the end of the day approached. This time it was almost completely clear, so it was easy to see this large flock of birds as it silently floated over the edge of the marsh – with almost no flapping of wings, in great contrast to the geese! This time I more quickly figured out what I was seeing and I photographed them as the crossed into the center of the marsh and landed.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Morning Haze, Death Valley

March 8, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Distant snow-covered peaks are barely visible across the vast space of Death Valley in hazy morning light

This photograph was made from Dantes View, high in the mountains along the eastern border of Death Valley itself, and with a commanding, panoramic view of a huge portion of the surrounding terrain and especially down into Death Valley and the Badwater area almost right beneath the peak. The view here looks roughly north or northwest, past the location of Furnace Creek and beyond the Mesquite Dunes area to the far northern end of the Valley and then beyond to distant snow-covered peaks.

I have written before that Dantes View has been a difficult place for me to photograph. At first glance, the location has a lot going for it. At about a mile above the Valley floor below, the views encompass a huge area of interesting terrain, ranging from the lowest reaches of Death Valley itself to the 11,000+” Telescope in the Panamint Range to other features so distant that they often fade into the haze. But for me these same features make it very difficult to pick out anything that can draw the larger components of the scene together. There have been times when I have gone there with the intention of photographing, gotten out, looked around, been impressed by the location, and made no photographs at all. This time I mostly shot details of the Valley using a very long lens, but I thought that the shadows of the passing clouds brought enough relieve to the uniformity of the Valley to make this photograph, which I hope conveys some sense of the scale of the place.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: haze

Marsh and Trees, San Joaquin Valley

Alcatraz, Sunrise

White Pelicans in Flight

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