Tag Archives: motion

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Goose Bedlam

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Goose Bedlam
A large flock of geese in twilight flight above California’s Central Valley.

Goose Bedlam. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large flock of geese in twilight flight above California’s Central Valley.

Today I’m back from what will likely be my last opportunity of the season to photograph seasonal migratory geese here in California. I know that I photographed them on about this date last year… and that about a week later (on March 13, 2020) when I went to look for them they had left. I remember that date well, as it was the last such trip I took for a long time, as California was in the process of entering a fairly hard lockdown as the trajectory of the pandemic became clearer. In any case, these geese should be heading back to the arctic for the warm month any day now.

Near the end of their California visit they seem to become increasingly active, and that was the case this week. Although they did spend time on the ground feeding or settled on ponds, they were frequently in the air. As darkness approached a huge group of them — snow, Ross’s, white-fronted, and probably other geese — was in constant motion in an area of recently cleared fields. I like to photograph them at slower shutter speeds in the twilight since it seems to me that the motion blurring effect may suggest this wild activity better than pure stop-motion.

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, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Spring Flow

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Spring Flow
Rushing spring water and reflections, Merced River.

Spring Flow. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rushing spring water and reflections, Merced River.

For a place made of stone, the Sierra is a surprising transitory scene. Summer is brief, and wildflowers bloom and are soon gone. Color comes to aspens in the fall and is gone weeks later. Spring is the time of rushing water in the Sierra, from the high country to the lowlands. The water rises as the snow melts, creeks and rivers fill to their banks, and waterfalls appear. I photographed this minor torrent along the Merced River as it passes through Yosemite Valley.

Every landscape photographer I know has tried his or her hand at photographing the moving water this way. No matter what other marvelous landscape features are around, eventually we come back to the water and try to do something with the ever-changing colors and shapes of water. This is one of those “what the camera sees” sorts of photography, since we cannot see the river this way, and these shapes and colors change too quickly without the camera to grab and hold them.

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

Sudden Flight

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Sudden Flight
A flock of Ross’s geese takes to the air at the end of the day.

Sudden Flight. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of Ross’s geese takes to the air at the end of the day.

As an afternoon of migratory autumn/winter migratory bird photography runs on into sunset and then twilight, it is inevitable that there will eventually be too little light to photograph the way I might during the daytime. But I usually continue until it is virtually dark — to the point that I may need a headlamp to stow my equipment when I finish. During that final low-light period I often end the cycle of increasing ISO and pushing shutter speed, and instead I drop ISO down to the minimum and let the exposure times lengthen, allowing me to work with motion blur from birds in flight.

We had positioned ourselves near a large flock of geese in a pasture, and they were gradually become more restless, beginning to take off in small groups and depart for parts unknown. Groups tend to depart together, and as they do they rise, with little or no warning, en masse and take to the air. It is hard to say what makes a photograph “realistic,” but I often feel that these masses of blurry birds may suggest the quality of these departing flocks at least as truthfully as stop-motion photographs.

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.

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