Tag Archives: mnwr

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Pond And Early Morning Autumn Sky

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Pond And Early Morning Autumn Sky
A marshland pond reflects cloudy early morning autumn sky

Pond And Early Morning Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A marshland pond reflects cloudy early morning autumn sky.

I regard this as a sort of “almost winter” landscape, since I made the photograph in mid-December, about a week before the winter solstice. By this time of year California is solidly into the wet-season regime — the polar opposite of the state’s summer. Pacific weather fronts from the Gulf of Alaska sweep across the state periodically, and when the weather behaves somewhat normally the states wetland areas come back to life. And, yes, by California it is definitely the “cold season” by mid-September!

Scenes similar to this one may be found all over the state. All you need is a source of water and some expanse of relatively flat terrain where the water can pool. This one is located in an agricultural plain in the central part of the state, but I’ve seen similar pools across the entire state from south to north and east to west. You can even find them at times in the desert areas. This morning brought skies filled with clouds portending the arrival of one of those winter weather systems. After an initial burst of sunrise light the sun moved behind clouds and the colors softened. I photographed past some remnant shallow water plants, now gone to winter brown, and toward the early morning sky to the north.

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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Photographs: Nature

Winter Sky, California

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Winter Sky, California
Winter evening sky above the San Joaquin Valley, California

Winter Sky, California. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter evening sky above the San Joaquin Valley, California

Photographers sometimes have a complicated relationship with sky. On one hand, quite a few of us tend to minimize its presence in photographs, especially when the sky isn’t special. The sort of blue sky day that seems beautiful to non-photographers (and beautiful to photographers when not making photographs!) often produces a plain blue expanse that can seem empty in a photograph. (Not always. It is also possible to use this in some cases, for example to suggest grand space and distance.) Among my photographer friends, quite a few work to minimize the presence of such skies or even eliminate it entirely — to the point that this can become an inside joke. I’ve heard people refer to certain photographs by one friend as “an extremely rare [insert photographer name] photograph of the sky.”

But sometimes the sky begs to be included, and on occasion it can be the main subject. To generalize, the most interesting skies often come in fall, winter, and perhaps spring in California, when much of the state gets its most interesting weather. (There are opportunities in summer, to — how about a clearing thunderstorm?) I made this sky photograph while I was busy photographing another subject. During a slow moment I looked away from that “other thing” and saw these clouds. I pivoted and made a few exposures, just as the last sunset light was illuminating the undersides of the clouds and already beginning to fade from the highest clouds against the darkest sky.

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: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Autumn Sky

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White Pelicans, Autumn Sky
A small flock of white pelicans flies against a late autumn morning sky

White Pelicans, Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small flock of white pelicans flies against a late autumn morning sky

For a long time I thought that all California pelicans were the brown pelicans, familiar to anyone who spends time along the coast. Those magnificent birds (with what seems to me to be an almost prehistoric aspect) glide up and down the California coast, floating past headlands, and sometimes alighting on beaches or rocks. I had seen photographs of other pelicans and wondered that they often were while, even though every pelican I had encountered was not.

It turns out that I was simply ignorant of birds that were close by the whole time. In the past few years I have learned that white pelicans are all over California — in inland areas, in lakes, close to the ocean. They are beautiful birds, especially when in flight. I often see them in groups of perhaps a dozen or two, flying in almost straight lines with slowly moving wings. In my (probably atypical) experience, I either see them on the ground near or in water, and off in the distance, or I get quick glimpses as they fly past me. The latter was the case here. I was not far away when I saw a group take off and head towards a spot not far from my position. I quickly moved there and managed to photograph them as they passed overhead with a larger group of geese in flight against the autumn sky in the distance.

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

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Foliage, Wetlands

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Autumn Foliage, Wetlands
Autumn foliage and a reflecting pond under late Autumn skies

Autumn Foliage, Wetlands. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn foliage and a reflecting pond under late Autumn skies

Fall color varies a great deal from location to location. My East Coast friends remind  me that I haven’t seen anything quite like the forest-wide flood of color that happens there every fall — and they are probably right. (I still need to go to New England and photograph fall color. Too many subjects, too little time! ;-) On the other hand, we West Coast dwellers have a few special opportunities of our own, at least if we have learned where to look for them. One of these opportunities comes from the extraordinarily long color season.

I usually see my first indications of “fall” color in the Sierra as early as late-August. The first hints are subtle, but by halfway into September they are becoming pretty obvious, with the first aspens changing colors, and by early October the show in the Eastern Sierra is quite amazing. Because of the elevation range and north/south extent of the Sierra, the color lasts a long time — higher and more northerly color may come first, while lower elevation color may still be appearing over a month later. Once the aspens are done, the cottonwoods and other lower-elevation trees come into form. At the western Sierra foothill elevations the color can peak close to the beginning of November, and out in the Great Valley and closer to the coast there can still be excellent color in December! That’s when I photographed this group of trees, reflected in a pond and underneath autumn clouds… and at the peak of their seasonal color transformation.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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