Tag Archives: mnwr

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Three Winter Trees at Sunrise

Image Leave a comment
Three Winter Trees at Sunrise
Three winter trees in soft sunrise light on a misty Central Valley morning.

Three Winter Trees at Sunrise. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three winter trees in soft sunrise light on a misty Central Valley morning.

This is another photograph from my first-week-of-March visit to the Central Valley. My objective was to photograph migratory birds one more time before their March departure for the far north. Once on the scene my goals shifted more towards landscape photography, as many of the birds had dispersed a bit more widely than usual and were in areas that were not accessible. Recent heavy California rains had produced pooling water nearly everywhere, so the birds were not all in their familiar locations. Fortunately, the trees had not moved.

In other recent posts I have mentioned the surprise appearance of tule fog on this morning. The day started out crystal clear, and lacking the expected bird subjects I decided to photograph these trees at sunrise. I was so intent on this that the slightly muted quality of the light didn’t trigger my “maybe there will be fog” instincts. But when I look at this photograph now I can see that the conditions were already starting to develop. But at the moment I made the photograph, all I saw was the soft, reddish sunrise light on the trunks of these 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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

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

Three Cranes, Sunrise Sky

Image Leave a comment
Three Cranes, Sunrise Sky
Three sandhill cranes in flight beneath dawn sky, Central Valley, California.

Three Cranes, Sunrise Sky. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three sandhill cranes in flight beneath dawn sky, Central Valley, California.

In an earlier post I believe I mentioned that I made “more than a few” photographs of cranes flying against this colorful pre-dawn sky. The key on this morning was that a thin layer of high clouds stretched to the east over and beyond the Sierra Nevada. It was more or less the perfect sort of cloudiness to create this light — thick enough to pick up the color and glow, but mostly not thick enough to block the morning light. So I perhaps expended more frames than usual on the cranes that passed in front of my camera position.

I recently read that sandhill cranes are one of the most ancient of bird species, and they do have a sort of primordial quality when in flight. They often fly in small groups of two or three, though sometimes I’ll see groups of a dozen or so… and when they fly back to settle in the evening there may be a hundred or more at a time. They are large birds, and their relatively slow wing strokes and frequent gliding are striking.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Tree and Pond

Image Leave a comment
Winter Tree and Pond
“Winter Tree and Pond” — A winter-barren tree at the edge of a foggy pond.

Winter Tree and Pond. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A barren winter tree at the edge of a foggy pond.

This scene was an unexpected opportunity on my Central Valley visit during the first week of March. When I arrived in the predawn light, the sky was completely clear — so clear that the sunrise photography was actually a bit disappointing. But I try to make the best of what I have to work with, so I did some photography in the first dawn light and then moved on. Then, perhaps an hour later and to my complete surprise, tule fog began to develop, and before long the visibility was down to, well, what you see in this photograph.

I headed back to this spot, which I had passed without bothering to pause in that earlier light, and now the fog turned this bare tree and pond into quite an atmospheric scene. The fog often transforms rather unremarkable scenes into something much more interesting, mostly by muting the visibility of distracting elements and leaving the main features and forms.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Blackbirds in Trees, Sunrise

Image Leave a comment
Blackbirds in Trees, Sunrise
A flock of red-winged blackbirds perches in a bare winter tree at sunrise.

Blackbirds in Trees, Sunrise. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A flock of red-winged blackbirds perches in a bare winter tree at sunrise.

This photograph fits squarely into that hybrid genre that I refer to as “birdscapes.” A lot of bird photography focuses on somewhat tightly framed photograph of individuals or small groups. I make those photographs, too, but often I include more of the landscape than the birds. In other words, I tend to be interested in the place of the birds in their landscapes. As such, I often treat them as part of the larger place and less as individual specimens.

When I arrived here before dawn, my general plan — which often works pretty well — was to look around for an interesting flock of birds, probably cranes or geese. Then I would look for a camera position that put them in the best sunrise light, which might be some kind of sidelight with an interesting background or perhaps backlight if there is some haze or fog. Unfortunately, there were hardly any such flocks, and those I found took off before sunrise! So I looked for an alternative sunrise subject, and soon remembered this group of three 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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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