Tag Archives: morning

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

First Light, Base of Tucki Mountain and the Panamint Range

February 25, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

First morning light on the rugged landscape of the base of Tucki Mountain and the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park, California

This photograph was made from a location a ways up from the bottom of Death Valley, from which I could look directly across at the lower slopes of gigantic Tucki Mountain as the first morning light worked its way down toward the lower ridges and the huge alluvial fan at the base of the mountain. At the moment I made the exposure the light was just beginning to fill this slanting area below the rugged mountains, and the light was softened by morning haze.

Tucki Mountain is a huge peak that almost seems to me to be large enough to count as its own minor mountain range. It rises above Stovepipe Wells, and extends a great distance east, south, and west of there. It is laced with deep canyons and its lower slopes are heavily eroded to reveal tilting and twisting strata. Another large valley lies on beyond the foreground spur ridge in this photograph, and beyond that the Panamint Range rises to its crest at 11,000+’ Telescope Peak.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Tundra Swans, Dawn

February 21, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Tundra swans in dawn light above the Central Valley of California.

This is the second photograph of this particular group of tundra swans that flew low over our position near the end of Woodbridge Road in the California Central Valley near the end of January. With all the challenges of photographing flying birds in limited light and with long lenses, it is no wonder that one gets a less than 100% success rate with these photographs. But every so often all the pieces fall into place and you end up with something that is not another slightly out-of-focus, slightly mis-aimed, over- or under-exposed photograph of the silhouettes of bird undersides. Seriously. ;-)

This group came over at a relatively low level, though not so low than individual birds would fill the viewfinder. By default, I usually begin with the camera in “landscape” (horizontal) mode for this sort of subject, but because these birds were almost directly overhead and lined up “vertically” rather than strung out in a line, I decided to quickly shift the camera to “portrait” (vertical) orientation after one initial exposure as they approached. Now the trick was to try to keep my eye on one bird that needed to be under the AF point, while simultaneously remaining aware of the entire flock so that I could keep them within the boundary of the frame and try to catch them at a point when they were not blocking one another. The fact that I got the beautiful morning light coming from below was partially due to being there good and early, and possibly due to the birds thoughtfully positioning themselves to allow this. Thank you, tundra swans!

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

Tundra Swans, Dawn

February 17, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

: Tundra swans in dawn light above the Central Valley of California.

Tundra swans in dawn light above the Central Valley of California.

These photographs (there are others) of tundra swans in flight above the Central Valley of California near the end of Woodbridge Road are the result of some combination of foresight, planning, and good fortune. Mostly good fortune. :-)

The “foresight and planning” part involves knowing that huge numbers of beautiful migratory birds make their homes in the Central Valley every winter, in figuring out (by “poking around” and with the help and advice of friends) the locations of some of the good locations for seeing the birds, getting up very early and driving long distances before the sun comes up, having the right equipment to photograph them, and knowing how to use it. The good fortune part, however, cannot be diminished. You would have to be crazy to think that you have much control at all over the elements of such scenes. Not only are the weather and related atmospheric conditions essentially whatever they are, but the bird tend to go wherever they want, whenever they want. They are notoriously resistant to shouted commands to come back around a second time, fly past at a lower elevation, group themselves more closely, or position themselves nicely in the light. :-)

This was one of quite a few groups of birds that flew over us this morning. Sometimes the group might consist of two birds, sometimes of too many to count. They might be low or high, close or far. These approached in nearly perfect light – the sun had just risen and the low-angle light illuminated the birds from below and, to some extent, through their feathers. As they approached I was shooting in “landscape” (horizontal) orientation, since that works more often than not for flocks that are strung out lengthwise. I squeezed off one shot in that mode, then realized that they were about to line up vertically above me as they passed, so I quickly shifted the camera by ninety degrees and worked to frame them in the viewfinder as the flew past.

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

Fennel, Distant Birds, Morning

February 16, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Early morning light on a row of fennel plants with migratory birds passing in the distance, Central Valley, California.

If you don’t look closely, fennel is a pretty nondescript plant, especially during the dry season when it more or less goes dormant and consists mostly of dry twigs and branches and a few dry seeds. I never paid much attention to it at all when I was younger, despite spending a lot of time in the California outdoors, where the plant is very common. I think the first time that I actually noticed it was some years ago when I was surprised to smell the familiar fragrance of anise (as in licorice) while hiking or running along a local trail. I stopped and noticed the familiar seeds that I had used in cooking, picked a few, crushed them, and noticed that powerful smell. (There is a group of plants found in outdoor California that often cause me to stop and engage in this ritual of picking a leaf or seed, crushing it, and enjoying the scent: fennel, bay/laurel, sage…)

True to form, I wasn’t really paying much attention to these plants growing along the boundary between a Central Valley road and a flooded field where I had stopped to make photographs of migratory birds in late January. It may actually be the case that I only really “saw” them when my camera’s AF system “incorrectly” locked focus on the plants instead of more distant subjects! But this shot was not an accident. At this point I had noticed the plants and they became the subject, with relief from cross light from the rising sun and against the background of hazy early morning sky.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: morning

First Light, Base of Tucki Mountain and the Panamint Range

Fennel, Distant Birds, Morning

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