Tag Archives: mnwr

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Central Valley Winter Sunset Clouds

Image 2 Comments
Central Valley Winter Sunset Clouds
Sunset clouds above a Central Valley winter pond.

Central Valley Winter Sunset Clouds. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset clouds above a Central Valley winter pond.

Recently, as we approached the end of 2021, I revisited some photographs from around New Years day of 2020, the last New Year’s of the Before Times. As is our tradition, a group of us met to spend a couple of days photographing winter subjects, pausing to raise a toast to the New Year following a few hours of early morning photographing on the first day of the new year. If you are focused on your New Year’s Eve party plan, it may be difficult to understand, but I can’t imagine anything better than greeting the literal dawn of the new year in a wild place, accompanied by friends.

We have met on New Year’s Day for a few years, but more recently some of us have expanded our celebration to begin the day before. So we were out there photographing on New Year’s Eve Day, right into the twilight hours. Sunsets can be exactly what you expect them to be, but sometimes they toss something unexpected and remarkable your direction. That was the case on this evening, when a combination of the passing tail edge of a weather front, still air, and a very colorful sky combined to create a rather remarkable set of conditions. It was one of those moments when it almost feels like I just have to point the camera and push the shutter button. (OK, there’s a bit more to it than that, but at least the primary subject is plainly obvious.)

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 | 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.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Plant, Reflections

Image Leave a comment
Autumn Plant, Reflections
An autumn plant silhouetted against the surface of a shallow Central Valley pond.

Autumn Plant, Reflections. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An autumn plant silhouetted against the surface of a shallow Central Valley pond.

In another recent post I noted that this is the season when I like to spend a lot of time in California’s Great Central Valley photographing birds, many of which are migratory visitors to the state and only remain for a few months. But the complete story is a bit more complicated. Yes, the birds do attract me to these locations. But the locations themselves and their potential as landscape subjects are equally compelling. (I sometimes describe what I do out there as not being precisely “bird photography” or “landscape photography,” but something that often feels more like “birdscape photography.”

I fill out another detail of that “complete story,” too. Sometimes the birds don’t show up, or they are there but too far away or in small numbers, or the light simply isn’t great for photographing them. This is often my cue to pivot to pure landscape photography, and in this region of fog, water, and sometimes an expansive sky, that can be a pretty interesting subject, too. On this visit the birds were few and far between — not a real surprise during an early-December visit on a gray day. By mid-morning I turned my attention to the landscape and was intrigued by the many plants at the water’s edge. In retrospect, the shape of this one and its adornment with what might be remind one of ornaments suggested a Christmas tree.

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 | 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.

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

Great Blue Heron, Reflection

Image Leave a comment
Great Blue Heron, Reflection
A great blue heron on the hunt in a Central Valley pond.

Great Blue Heron, Reflection. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A great blue heron on the hunt in a Central Valley pond.

This photograph of a great blue heron comes from this season’s first visit to California’s Central Valley to photograph migratory and other birds. Such visits become a main part of my photography between December and March. The trigger for this early December trek to the Valley was a forecast of fog — and I love foggy days out in the Valley. (On the other hand, I sympathize with locals who get a bit tired of the tule fog when it sticks around for days or weeks.) While the bird populations weren’t exactly overwhelming on this visit — and the great light never quite arrived — it was great to be back in the field on this visit marking the start of a new season.

There is a tremendous variety of birds to photograph in this area. The large flocks of geese and cranes are an obvious attraction, but others have started to grow on me — the redwing and tricolor blackbirds, egrets, ibises, lots of LBBs (little brown birds) and these large and magnificent great blue herons. I almost always encounter them as solitary individuals — thought, oddly, it isn’t unusual to find them in the company of a solitary egret. That was the case with this one. It and its egret companion were busy hunting in the shallow waters of a pond. I stopped and remained in my vehicle to avoid scaring the birds, and eventually they moved quite close to me.

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 | 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.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Water Plants

Image Leave a comment
Water Plants
Water plants and their reflections on a foggy late-winter day in California’s Central Valley.

Water Plants. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Water plants and their reflections on a foggy late-winter day in California’s Central Valley.

During the first week of December I finally made my first trip of the season to my favorite bird photography area in Central California. In autumn, all up and down the state, we start to see the arrival of the winter migratory birds, and I’ve become addicted to photographing them and the landscapes in which they appear. I would have gone a bit earlier this year, but I was waiting for the right combination of fog and driving conditions. Yes, I WANT fog. But, no, I don’t want it so thick that dangerous driving conditions are an impediment.

From my perspective, the best bird photograph days in these places start with fog that begins to thin by mid- to late-morning, allowing some filtered, directional light to appear. This was not that kind of day. It ended up being uniformly gray. There were interesting birds around, but not in the numbers that we’ll likely see later. For these and other reasons, by mid-morning I turned my attention mostly away from the birds and towards the landscape. During the early season, as the shallow ponds begin to refill, there is more of a feeling of autumn than winter, and lots of interesting plants still stand in the water. The plants in this picture might be of limited interest — they certainly are not prominent landscape features — but their reflections caught my attention.

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 | 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.

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