Tag Archives: levee

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

Winter Wetlands

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Winter Wetlands
Ponds and trees on a winter morning in the San Joaquin Valley

Winter Wetlands. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 1, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ponds and trees on a winter morning in the San Joaquin Valley

This is a very familiar spot to me — and probably to some of my friends as well. We often pass through this area while photographing in the San Joaquin Valley, usually looking for migratory birds (and often in very dense fog!). This is a landscape of farmland, interspersed by ponds, in and area of the valley through which large rivers travel — or traveled, until the waterways were “managed” for agricultural and other uses. There are trees, too, though they are often widely separated from one another or else arranged in long rows along roads and property lines.

There are a few birds in this photograph — you may see them on the water if you look closely — but it is more about the landscape. Here it consists of (mostly) those ponds, divided by low levees on which grasses and other plants grow and an occasional tree takes root.

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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Commentary, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Photographers

Photographer, Wetlands

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Photographer, Wetlands
Water reflects clouds above photographer David Hoffman as he works from a levee in San Joaquin Valley wetlands.

Photographer, Wetlands. San Joaquin Valley, California. December 6, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Water reflects clouds above photographer David Hoffman as he works from a levee in San Joaquin Valley wetlands.

Passing through California’s Great Central Valley by car, you could be forgiven for thinking that there isn’t much there besides fast food, gas stations, freeway, and other stuff alongside the road. Get off the freeway, get out of the car, and slow down a bit, especially during the colder half of the year, and you may find a very different place. This little post is not the place to share the whole story, but for me the place is partly defined by its agricultural roots, partly by the sense that it is located between the coast ranges and the great Sierra Nevada, and partly by the sense I often get there of space and immense sky.

We had spent the morning photographing migratory birds and the somewhat hazy landscape. We broke for lunch in a nearby town and then returned for more photography in the mid afternoon. While we were at lunch the conditions changed — the light fog dissipated and high clouds from a Pacific weather front drifted across the sky. As we headed out toward a spot where we hoped to find birds for evening photography we paused along the levee and photographed the sky, its reflection in the wetlands pond, and the spare winter landscape. My friend and photographer David Hoffman is photographing the same pond from the far bank.

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

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

Flock of Cranes, Marsh

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Flock of Cranes, Marsh
Flock of Cranes, Marsh

Flock of Cranes, Marsh. San Joaquin Valley, California. February 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large flock of sandhill cranes gathers in a shallow San Joaquin Valley marsh

This large group of sandhill cranes was most cooperative with us during our mid-February visit to their habitat out in California’s San Joaquin Valley. While there are places in the valley where it is reasonably simple to get quite close to them, at this place they often hang out a good distance from the areas accessible to visitors—and many times the photography is therefore limited to very long shots or to birds passing overhead.

In general this was a somewhat different day as far as birds were concerned. The common mid-day lull in their activity was less pronounced, and for almost the entire day they tended to be quite active. Large groups of many different kinds of geese flew in and out, often collecting in large flocks in empty fields. Earlier a group of cranes had stood close to the access road near the larger group of geese. And a bit later in the day, a very large group of cranes settled in on this shallow pond and was willing to remain there as we photographed.

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

Levee Road and Trees

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Levee Road and Trees
Levee Road and Trees

Levee Road and Trees. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 1, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pond reflects trees in foggy morning light along a twisting San Joaquin Valley levee road

This photograph is from my New Year’s Day visit to the San Joaquin Valley, where I went to greet the dawn in the company of thousands of migratory birds and a couple of good friends. After arriving home from the east coast the previous night at about 11:00 and getting to bed after midnight, I arose before 4:00 AM and headed off to the valley. Despite the sleep deprivation, it helped a bit to remind myself that it was already 7:00 AM back in New York, where I had spent the previous week – but only a bit. I arrived before dawn to meet my friends Dave and Charlotte, and we quickly went to work photographing the birds and the early and misty environment of this marshland area.

Shortly after the sun rose I headed out along this road that follows the contours of the levees separating the various ponds. Mostly they travel in relatively straight lines, but here the track takes a winding course among stands of cottonwood trees. When I stopped to look around a bit I glanced back and saw this pattern, with the early light on the vegetation and the slight fog causing colors and contrast to fade into the distance.

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.