A flock of geese against twilight sky above the Central Valley
February was mostly a very good month for photographing migratory birds in the Central Valley this winter. This was a relief, quite honestly, after the past four years of drought and increasingly dire conditions in the Valley and throughout the state. In normal times, the wildlife refuges where I often photograph can be filled with water and life in the winter — flowing creeks and flooded fields where thousands of birds collect. But much of this water comes from sources that are not local, and as they dried up the refuges also began to shrink the acreage that was under water. It was sad to see locations that I’ve thought of as ponds become plain, dry fields. And at times the birds seemed to suffer a bit, too, or at least change their habits. Back in the late fall, before the course of the winter season became clear and Northern and Central California received rain again, we were concerned about what would happen this year.
But in most of California the rains came, at times heavy, and water flows once again. The birds returned, and sometimes it seemed that there numbers were exploding with the return of water. By February it wasn’t uncommon to find many thousands of birds in the refuges, and by late in the month the scene was downright wild, with all kinds of geese, huge numbers of cranes, and much more. In the evening things become active, and as the light fails I often continue to photograph, but at longer shutter speeds that allow me to work with the moving poetry of blurred birds in flight against dusk sky.
A large flock of geese takes to the air in evening light
Each day among these migratory birds moves through a kind of cycle, with variations that eventually become familiar but which don’t become any less compelling or exciting. It typically starts with a pre-dawn drive and arrival at a likely spot to find them — preferably in fog! It is always thrilling to catch the first sight and sound of the birds. The day continues, likely passing from fog to hazy sunshine, as the birds tend to settle into midday routines. Sometime after lunch it is (almost always) time for a break, but the work resumes by mid-afternoon. At first things happen slowly, but as evening approaches the pace picks up – more birds coming and going, more frequent take-offs, light that evolves in beautiful ways — and before long it is sunset and then dusk.
Early morning and evening are times of daily transition for the birds, so there is often a lot of action. Although a mass take-off can occur at almost any time if something sets off the flock, they become more likely and more impressive in the evening. They also become more difficult to photograph! As light fades and the subject becomes more interesting, the photographic challenges of low light increase. Rather than giving in to the dimming light I often take a different approach and embrace the motion blur, following the general mass of birds but allowing the fine details to soften and merge.
Motion blurred photograph of a Chinatown store window display
Part of what I enjoy about night photography is the way that the environment is transformed and how I often have to resort to “seeing as the camera sees” more than seeing as I see in the dim light. The camera sees better in low light, it can pick up colors that fade almost to monochrome in nighttime human vision, and it can “see” things like blur motion with longer exposures.
For a few minutes on this evening I decided to play around with long exposure blur. Instead of keeping the ISO high so that I could use short shutter speeds in the low light and stop motion, I lowered the ISO and intentionally selected smaller apertures and very long shutter speeds. Then I used the combination of subject motion and intentionally moving the camera myself to create abstractions. It may hardly matter, but the subject here was a store window full of colorful lanterns.
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.
