Tag Archives: light

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

Wetlands Birds, Dawn Fog

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“Wetlands Birds, Dawn Fog” — Black-necked stilts and other wetland birds in a quiet pond as dawn fog begins to thin.

Believe it or not, I still have more photographs from our three days of photography around New Year’s Day. To recap, a group of friends and fellow photographers assembled before dawn to greet the first sunrise of the new year. We spent the rest of the day sharing food and good times and photographing this landscape and its wildlife.

The photograph was made quite early, well before the fog began to clear. This is shallow tule fog, which can be dense enough to hamper driving, but shallow enough that you can look up and see the sky directly overhead. The fog glowed with the colors of the overhead sunrise sky as a few black-necked stilts went about their morning business in the pond.

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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Oak Tree, Sun and Fog

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“Oak Tree, Sun and Fog” — Sunlight streams through thinning fog on a hillside behind an old oak tree.

This is the third and final photograph from my recent local “foggy morning” photography. To recap, when low fog stuck around here for hours (it usually dissipates very early) I headed out to the local rural landscape to make some photographs. This tree is in an area south of San Jose that was once destined to be a technology park. There’s a lot of history there, but the short story is that after the local government gave in to developer pressure there were no takers for the technology park. Today it remains relatively rural and is increasingly protected. I’d call that a victory!

The tree is on private land, from what I can tell, though clearly visible from a nearby roadway. The hills in the background form a low ridge that roughly parallels the edge of the valley for miles. At the moment I made the photograph the tree was out of the fog, but it was just thinning in the hills, and beautiful slanted columns of light formed between the shadows of trees.

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.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | BlueSky | Email

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

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Winter Trees

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“Winter Trees” — Morning sunlight on winter trees, Santa Clara County.

This photo was made in my “backyard,” relatively speaking, of the hills south of Silicon Valley. This morning it was very foggy here, and when it looked like the fog might stick around I grabbed my camera gear and headed out to see what opportunities might await. I did photograph some foggy subjects (photos will appear here before long) but eventually I wandered up an old rural road that I hadn’t visited in years.

California’s winter climate can seem quite strange to out-of-staters. In most of the state, except for the high mountains and desert areas, the latter part of winter is our green season. And now, in late January, it has begun again in Northern California. As I drove up this little road, new grass was turning the hillsides green, and there were leaves on some trees. I stopped at a wide spot to photograph the delightfully complex silhouette of this tree in hazy sunlight.

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.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | BlueSky | Email

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

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Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Spain, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Checking The Phone

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“Checking The Phone” — A woman sits on a stone bench and checks her phone at night, Madrid.

We were in Madrid this past December. Our previous visit was during the torrid month of August — and we vowed not to do that again! We alost expected that things would be calmer without crowds of summer tourists. But we discovered that Madrid goes crazy right before Christmas. Thousands of people crowd the streets, though this crowd has far fewer foreign tourists. And yet, I made this quiet photograph of a solitary person in a place that was directly adjacent to the hubbub.

We had been out on a walk and a visit to some interesting places to eat and drink earlier in the evening. If I recall correctly, we were now starting to loop back toward our hotel when we walked up this side street and I found this fascinating brick wall covered with posters and a tangle of wires. Perhaps the woman in the photograph had also sought refuge from the crowds on this quiet side street?

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.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | BlueSky | Email

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

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