Tag Archives: marsh

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

Pre-Dawn Light, San Joaquin Valley

December 27, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Pre-dawn light and thin fog above marshland in California’s San Joaquin Valley

A foggy fall landscape with birds from California’s San Joaquin Valley, where I often go at tho time of year to photograph migratory birds and the often foggy, cold, and damp places they live. The region is largely agricultural, with lots of cattle being raised nearby – but in the winter the pastures are flooded and a huge variety of birds can be found here, including geese, herons, white pelicans, cranes, ibises, egrets, and more.

As I usually do, I left the San Francisco Bay area very early in the morning, well before dawn, so that I could arrive here before the sun came up. I had already been shooting a while when I stopped next to this pond where a small group of coots (?) were clustered together. I had been looking for some sort of foreground focus around which to build a photograph that included those interesting clouds over in the direction of the Sierra Nevada, clouds that here are just beginning to pick up the dawn light that had yet to reach the valley, were there was still a light blanket of fog.

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

Wetlands and Evening Sky

December 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening sky reflected by the surface of San Joaquin Valley wetlands

The late fall, winter, and early spring seasons bring to most interesting skies to California’s Central Valley landscape. In the summer – when, frankly, I most often drive through here on the way to some place else – the sky is mostly just plain blue with the typical amounts of haze. (Contrary to popular opinion, the LA Basin is not necessarily the location of the worst air in California – that “distinction” actually belongs to portions of the Great Valley.) But in winter there seems to be much more variation and conditions can sometimes change quickly – as they did on this photography day in mid-December.

While it can often be very foggy in this part of the Valley, on this day there was only light fog in the early morning and some lingering haze. This actually turns out to be beautiful light for photography as the haze mutes and softens the light in ways that I love. By midday the light was, well, midday light – and we took a break in a nearby town for lunch. When we returned to the field by mid afternoon early clouds from a weak approaching weather system were beginning to appear. When a really big front comes through at this time of day, the light is basically switched off – but this weak front brought alternating bands of blue sky, partial clouds, and thick clouds that blocked the light. For a few minutes before the end of the day everything turned blue – sky, water, and clouds – and I stopped to take of my long birding photography lens and use a wide-angle to make a photograph of this scene that is almost entirely sky.

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

Island, Marsh, Autumn Sky

December 22, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late-autumn morning sky above islands and flooded marshland, San Joaquin Valley

We arrived here in predawn darkness for a day of bird photography. I never know exactly what I’ll find when I start a morning out here, especially since I most often start before sunrise and frequently in thick fog. On this day, the air was a bit murky before dawn but there was no thick fog, and as we drove the perimeter of this marshy area we could not only hear the cranes and geese and other birds, but we could even see them a bit. The atmosphere was “interesting,” to use a euphemism for “doesn’t look promising but you never know what might happen!” No thick fog… but clouds overhead that might or might not allow some interesting light at sunrise.

Perhaps 10 minutes before sunrise it was time to pick a subject and be ready for it. At about that point we arrived at this flooded pond with its odd little tule-covered islands. It was still gray, but I figured that if color did arrive at sunrise I might be able to fill the frame with the sky – both the actual sky and its colors reflected in the water – and split the image with the island and the thin horizon line. So I swapped my long bird lens for my widest ultra-wide and set up right along the edge of the water. The sunrise itself was blocked by thicker low clouds to the east, but as the sun rose above them it began to light higher cloud layers above the low-lying atmospheric haze and everything turned to shades of blue.

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

Marsh Grasses, Fog

December 6, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Marsh grasses in a pond on a morning of dense fog in California’s San Joaquin Valley

This photograph is from a visit to one of the places where I photograph birds this time of year, a trip I made back in late November. Aside from one earlier trip to photograph sandhill cranes further north, this was my first attempt to find and photograph geese this season. (There were geese, but just not yet the Ross’s and snow geese that arrive a bit later on.)

Although it had been nearly clear on my long pre-dawn drive over to the valley from the San Francisco Bay Area, I hit thick fog about 15 minutes from my goal. From my point of view, that is good news! Clear light and atmosphere can be good, too, but fog is more evocative and mysterious – and as it thins and clears the atmosphere goes through a series of very different stages, each of which brings different photographic opportunities. I arrived a few minutes before dawn and began to photograph in fog so thick that I couldn’t see very far at all. After photographing the filtered light of the sunrise I moved along a bit further to an area where I can often find sandhill cranes. On this morning I had more luck identifying them by sound than by sight! Since I couldn’t see the birds I decided to photograph the ponds and surrounding vegetation in the thick blanket of fog.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: marsh

Pre-Dawn Light, San Joaquin Valley

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Wetlands and Evening Sky

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Island, Marsh, Autumn Sky

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Marsh Grasses, Fog

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

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