Tag Archives: morning

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Crane Quartet, Fog

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Crane Quartet, Fog
“Crane Quartet, Fog” — Four sandhill cranes walk through shallow water in front of a larger flock on a very foggy morning.

As you can imagine, quiet and lonely places have their practical appeal these days. If I’m going out to photograph, especially if I’m driving somewhere, right now I tend to pick a time and place where there won’t be a lot of other people. Out in the middle of nowhere, at the end of a long pre-dawn drive in incredibly dense tule fog seems to do the trick quite nicely!

I’ve often wondered what it must be like to be a bird in a place such as this where the tule fog frequently forms in the winter. This fog is usually not very deep, and I’ve driven through tule fog so thick I could barely see the roadway, but if I looked up I could see stars and morning clouds overhead. I would think that these birds could easily lift off and emerge into sunshine on such a morning.

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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

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes in Motion

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A flock of sandhill cranes taking flight above wetlands on a Central Valley autumn morning.

Cranes in Motion. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes taking flight above wetlands on a Central Valley autumn morning.

This photograph follows one that I shared a few days ago. In that photo a group of sandhill cranes was standing in and along the edge of a pond, and I mentioned that their upright positions suggested that they were preparing to take to the air and depart. I wrote that without looking at the files that followed. Now I have looked at those other files, and I realize that I was correct — the small flock rose into the air almost immediately after that photograph and then traversed across the scene from left to right. I made this photograph as they departed.

You may notice that there is a lot of motion blur in this photograph. We often try to capture sharp photographs of birds, including those in flight, by hoping for sufficient light and then learning to track them as they fly. That’s not always an easy thing to do, and there’s nothing wrong with a sharp photograph of birds! But sometimes I feel that including some blur may better express the motion of this subject and the speed and suddenness of the birds’ flight.

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: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Wetlands Cranes, Dawn

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Wetlands Cranes, Dawn
A flock of sandhill cranes at a wetland pond at dawn.

Wetlands Cranes, Dawn. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes at a wetland pond at dawn.

This group of sandhill cranes was “hanging out” along wetland ponds earlier this autumn, standing quietly in the soft light of a foggy morning. These noble birds are found across vast areas o f America, and at this time of year they visit more southerly locations. When I go out to photograph migratory birds, one of the things I look forward to every time is opening my car door when I arrive before dawn and hearing the distinctive call of the cranes.

From looking at a lot of bird photography (and reading some of the descriptions of it) you might think that it is a thrill-a-minute, non-stop action endeavor. You would be wrong. The reality is that much of the time is spent not photographing the birds! There’s the pre- and post-photography drive to get to these places and home again, usually done in darkness. Then there are often some very busy moments right around sunrise and sunset. Between those times there is a lot of quiet sitting and waiting, wandering around trying to find the birds, napping (!), snacking, followed by more wandering and waiting. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In a world full of constant demands and stimulation, the slow and quiet times with these birds can be restorative.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Winter Mist, Tomales Bay

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Winter Mist, Tomales Bay
Morning mist rises above Tomales Bay on a cold winter morning.

Winter Mist, Tomales Bay. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning mist rises above Tomales Bay on a cold winter morning.

One advantage of living near iconic locations (in this case, the Point Reyes National Seashore) is that I can go there on short notice at times when few other visitors are around. Being only a short distance north of San Francisco and less than an hour’s drive from some populated areas of the greater Bay Area, a visit here on a summer weekend can be considerably less than a solitary experience. But on a freezing cold (literally!) late-winter weekday morning you might find yourself all alone in such a place.

I have passed by this spot many times, and this was not the first time I stopped to make photographs here. (Nearby and just out of sight are a couple of iconic regional photographic subjects.) On this morning it was the light that stopped me, along with the new grass on the coastal hills along the far shore. (Winter is our green season in much of California.) As I worked, the thin morning fog above the waters of Tomales Bay drifted slowly, backlit by the low-angle morning light.

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.