Tag Archives: nature

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

Geese at First Light

July 7, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of geese catch the first light above the Sacramento Valley

I’ll begin by briefly repeating the background of my visit to this place. Last winter, after several years of photographing migratory birds enthusiastically at some wonderful and familiar locations, I decided it was time to expand my horizons a bit. I set out to explore a few other new (to me) places where the birds can be found, mostly further north in California that I typically go to photograph this subject. These trips eventually took me all the way up to the far northeast corner of the state and even into Oregon, but the first excursion was to some areas in the Sacramento Valley.

I had read about this area and passed by it many times, including once or twice during the “bird season.” Shortly after New Years Day I decided to make a visit focused on photographing birds — and, as is my habit, the landscapes they inhabit. Many hours before dawn I set out on the long, dark drive to the north. I arrived at this place moments before sunrise and had to work quickly on pure instinct to find photographs in this unfamiliar landscape. I quickly discovered areas where there were birds, including this flock of geese taking to the air in the first sunlight of the morning.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Late Winter, Sierra Foothils

July 6, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Bare trees, new grass, overlapping hills, and late-winter haze in the Sierra Nevada foothills

Back in late February we spent a few days in Yosemite Valley in connection with the opening of the 2016 Yosemite Renaissance show in The Valley. While we were there we also photographed in the Valley, which is always a pleasure in winter, a time of year full of special subjects and conditions.

We left the Valley to head home and had time to take a round about route that would take us past one of our favorite migratory bird locations at sunset, so we wandered a bit in the Sierra foothills around Mariposa. While driving one back road we spotted this landscape of bare trees, brand new grasses, and hills receding into the winter haze.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Wildflowers, Rocks, and Grass

July 4, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Flowers and new grass at the beginning of the “green season” in the Sierra Nevada foothills

Today I went for a hike — not in the Sierra Nevada foothills but in a place where some of the same seasonal cycles are found. The hike took me up to a ridge, where I followed a trail along its crest. It was hot and dry, and the hills were covered by brittle, brown grasses. That’s how summer works in much of California. People who come here from the east or the north are often taken aback by what looks like a dead and dry landscape, and they may not be able to see the beauty in it.

But it isn’t that way all year. In fact, during winter, when many of those green-in-summer places are freezing or buried under snow, much of California erupts into what I call the “impossibly green season.” Believe it or not, this photograph was made in February in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Snow was still falling in the higher mountains, and it would continue to do so for several more months. But here in the low hills along the western edge of the range, winter rains had resurrected the grasslands and caused the wildflowers to bloom

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

Fog, Mist, Ocean, and Sky

July 3, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Looking westward toward the Pacific Ocean horizon and dissipating fog

I have something of an obsession with views to the west from the California coast, especially those in which details gradually fade toward and a distant and indistinct horizon. As a person whose family moved to this state when I was very young, and the son of a father who gradually worked his way west from New York through the midwest and the west to finally arrive on this coast, there is still, no doubt, at least a remnant of whatever it was that moved Americans across a continent — to arrive at its edge and look east to the unknown.

Minimalist Pacific Ocean views like this one have long intrigued me, especially when the light is extremely bright, to the point that the atmosphere glows so brightly that it almost hurts to look into it. This was an interesting day, one on which I escaped the hot inland weather to drive down the coast, where the fog was never far away. Here, at a spot high above the water, only thin remnants of the fog were present, along with a soft haze just above the water leading to a fog bank far off shore.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: nature

Geese at First Light

Late Winter, Sierra Foothils

Wildflowers, Rocks, and Grass

Fog, Mist, Ocean, and Sky

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