Tag Archives: morning

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

Sandhill Cranes, Morning Flight

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Sandhill Cranes, Morning Flight
A flock of lesser sandhill cranes takes to the air in early morning light.

Sandhill Cranes, Morning Flight. © Copyright 2022.G Dan Mitchell.

A flock of lesser sandhill cranes takes to the air in early morning light.

It was late February when I made this visit to Central Valley wetlands to photograph migratory birds, mainly geese and sandhill cranes. From what I can tell, they tend to depart for their northern homes in early to mid-March, so I planned to squeeze a couple more visits while they were still here for their winter stay. That’s not the only reason, though, for visiting them at this point in the season. It also seems to be the time when they are the most lively, and most likely to be found in large groups that often remain quite active all day long.

As per my usual plan, I arrived a half hour before dawn and set up my camera equipment in the near darkness. Then I headed out into the surrounding wetland terrain, looking for subjects that might work in the first light of sunrise. I soon found groups of sandhill cranes standing in shallow water. Although it wasn’t in the forecast, there was a bit of low tule fog, just enough to soften the light a bit. As the cranes began to fly out from the pond they rose into the reddish first light of sunrise.

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.

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Photographs: Nature

Morning Green

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Morning Green
Garden plants after morning watering.

Morning Green. © Copyright 2022.G Dan Mitchell.

Garden plants after morning watering.

After focusing on a rather dry sort of landscape for much of the past month, recently I have had a couple of chances to photograph much more colorful and lush subjects here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Due to the seasonal change — yes, spring is on its way — and the effects of another drier-than-usual winter, plants are sprouting and even blossoming here.

We have made a couple of trips to a large local garden that is open to the public, usually going on a less-busy weekday morning and trying to arrive as soon as the place opens. It seems to me that on these weekday mornings there is a lot of garden work taking place — watering, trimming, pruning, planting, and cleaning up. Quite a few of the photographs I have made have involved the detritus of these activities: old leaves and blooms on the ground, flowers a bit past their peak, and in this case some plants that had been watered moments before I arrived.

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.

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

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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

Cranes, Dawn Light

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Cranes, Dawn Light
A flock of lesser sandhill cranes in dawn light, reflected in a wetland pool on a late-winter morning.

Cranes, Dawn Light. © Copyright 2022.G Dan Mitchell.

A flock of lesser sandhill cranes in dawn light, reflected in a wetland pool on a late-winter morning.

By the time most of you see this photograph, there is a very good chance that these birds will have departed for the season. Every autumn, all sorts of wonderful migratory birds arrive in California from points north. Among my favorites are the geese, especially Ross’s and snow geese, and the sandhill cranes. They come to many places around the state, in particular in locations in California’s Great Central Valley. But, like typical tourists, they don’t stay all year, and before spring arrives they depart for locations as distant as the arctic shoreline.

I photographed these cranes on a late-February morning just as the first sunlight arrived. The sky was still red with dawn light, and for a few moments that color infused the entire landscape. A bit of valley fog softened the light just a bit. The birds stood in the shallow wetland pond for a bit and soon began flying out in small groups.

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.

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

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

Morning, Beneath Desert Mountains

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Morning, Beneath Desert Mountains
Morning light comes to badland terrains beneath tall desert mountains.

Morning, Beneath Desert Mountains. © Copyright 2022.G Dan Mitchell.

Morning light comes to badlands terrain beneath tall desert mountains.

On the final morning of my late-January visit to Death Valley National Park I decided to visit a location that I rarely photograph. I suppose there were two reasons for my choice. It wasn’t that far from where I was camped, and I wanted to get back to camp by mid-morning to take things down in preparation for my departure. In addition, it is a location that, frankly, hasn’t attracted me all that much for photography. I had been there before several times and came away with little to show for it. (Despite this, one client did purchase a number of prints from this location some years ago.)

An offhand comment by a friend had suggested a different way to look that the place, and as I looked at it from a distance earlier in the week I saw some things that caught my attention. So I headed out there before dawn on this final morning and followed a trail out to the edge of some interesting badlands country. As I worked that subject the light was working its way down the face of the bare desert mountains to the northwest, so I turned my camera that direction as the play of light and shadow evolved.

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.

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