Tag Archives: new

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Leaves on Snow

October 17, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Frost covered autumn aspen leaves lying on new-fallen snow, Sierra Nevada

Early October is the time of the annual aspen color transition in the eastern Sierra Nevada. For me, the combination of the dramatic color change and the seasonal weather changes clearly denote the fact that summer is over and that we are heading toward the cold part of the year. (I like this – I find that the fall through spring seasons are more photographically compelling, and I’m no longer a “hot weather person.”) While October in the Sierra can bring some beautiful and even warm days, there is not question that nights are both longer and colder, and the occasional passing weather front will drop enough snow to make it feel distinctly winter-like.

Although we knew that much of the iconic color at North Lake had already passed, we decided to go there anyway on this morning and look for more subtle things that remain. The road past the lake is on a north slope and we drove through plenty of recent snow as we passed along this shoreline in 22 degree temperatures. As expected, most of the trees had lost their leaves already, though we also found some trees that still held enough colorful leaves to make the visit well worth our time. And, when those leaves fall, they don’t simply disappear! On a snowy morning like this one they collect in piles on top of the snow, providing beautiful little compositions and highlighting the intensity of their colors.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Egret Quartet

July 16, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A quartet of egrets on a foggy morning in a green late-winter pasture in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

This gang of egrets was politely waiting for me near the far corner of a wildlife refuge that I had visited on the last-winter morning, hoping to photograph (mostly) geese and cranes. The geese and cranes were a bit shy, and as I worked my way around the refuge’s perimeter road I wasn’t finding a lot of opportunities to photograph them. I could hear them, especially the sandhill cranes, but they seemed to be too far off, hidden by fog, or behind the tules. But I wasn’t in a hurry, so I took my time, stopping and watching and listening. By this later point in the season the initial astonishment at the huge numbers of birds had worn off a bit, and rather than jumping out of the car to photograph huge flocks of birds, as if they were the first and only flocks in the world, had given way to a bit more patience.

It had appeared that it would be a clear morning as I drove toward this location, but just moments before I arrived – a bit before dawn – the cool and damp air did begin to form some fog. This was fine with me, as I’d rather have a bit of interesting foggy atmosphere than have perfectly clear sky. But the fog was relatively short-lived – not like the midwinter fogs that can cover these places for days on end. By the time I finally worked my way over to this spot the sun was starting to break through and the fog was thinning. Because of their stark white color, lone egrets are often easy to spot from a good distance, and four of them clustered together were impossible to overlook. As I edged up closer to them, remaining in my vehicle so as not to spook them, they simply stood there, occasionally swinging their heads one way or another. Before I could make this photograph I first had to wait for an unruly band of red-winged blackbirds to depart, and then I waited for the four birds to move their heads in what seemed to me to be interesting directions.

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

Spring Trees, Waterfall Mist

June 25, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Waterfall mist fills the air around sunlit maple trees with new spring leaves, Yosemite National Park

There are at least two stories behind this photograph. The first involves a family tradition that I started when I began taking my kids to The Valley quite a few years ago when they were small. Each spring we would take a “waterfall trip” as close as possible to the time of peak runoff – sometimes going up to the Valley and back in a single day. As part of this event, it was also my tradition to “say hello to summer” by making the first stop in the Valley at Bridal Veil falls – and hiking as close to the base of the fall as possible, in order to stand in the tremendous wind-blown clouds of spray, usually getting thoroughly soaked. This year we were there without our kids, who are now “all growed up” and off living their own lives, but I still had to make a ritual visit to the spray at the base of this fall.

The second story might actually be a continuation of the first. Sometimes I go to experience something and not photograph it, and that was my intention when we walked to the fall this time. But as we rounded a corner on the trail and I looked up into the morning light from the sun that had just cleared the top of the cliff, I saw this wonderful silhouetted maple tree standing in mist-filled air with the still-shaded waterfall beyond. But I did not have my “regular camera” nor did I have a tripod – I had my small Fujifilm X-E1, but with the wrong lens for this shot. I turned to my wife, who also has an X-E1 but usually attaches a 60mm macro lens (she is passionate about photographing small things!) and asked if I could borrow her camera/lens to try to squeeze off a couple of shots. She agreed, and I made two exposures, shooting handheld in the spray and wind.

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

Geese and Evening Sky

March 31, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A motion blurred photograph of Ross’s geese against the evening sky above California’s San Joaquin Valley

Bird photographers might appreciate the thought I had that it might be appropriate to refer to these “BIF” photographs “blurred in flight” shots. (Among bird photographers, “BIF” is short for “birds in flight.”) I guess I could say that I’m photographing “blinds,” or “blurreds,” – or something. In any case, the experimentation with motion-blur abstractions of flying birds continues.

I photographed these Ross’s geese on New Year’s Day 2013, when I met a great group of friends out in the foggy Central Valley to “chase wild geese” and other migratory birds. I made plenty of the usual sharp photographs of birds, but I’ve felt for some time that those do not always succeed in creating some analog of the ephemeral and transitory character of these critters. Plus, I just sort of like the abstraction of they blurred shapes! Some might say that making blurry photographs is a sign of less the competent photography, but I have to say that this isn’t quite as easy as it might seem. There are a lot of things to consider as I make these images. There is a sort of exposure time sweet spot that blurs the birds sufficiently but which still holds enough of their shape to clearly show their nature. I want abstract shapes, but not so abstract that they no longer clearly suggest birds in flight. Secondly there is the matter of background. Ideally, I think I like to locate the flying birds against fairly plain sky with interesting color. This means tracking the birds as they take flight, close to the ground and with “stuff” behind them, waiting for the moment when they break clear of ground and brush and trees and appear against the right sort of sky, but only for a moment before they move too far away. Finally, as I shoot I watch the constantly evolving relationships of position and shape among the birds of the moving flock, and try to capture moments when they briefly align in interesting ways. This group had stretched into a sort of horizontal cloud of birds when I triggered the shutter.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: new

Aspen Leaves on Snow

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Egret Quartet

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Spring Trees, Waterfall Mist

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Geese and Evening Sky

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

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