Tag Archives: north

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

Geese Take Flight

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Geese Take Flight
Ross’s geese take flight into Central California winter sky

Geese Take Flight. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ross’s geese take flight into California winter sky

I have learned a lot from photographing birds — a lot about my own interests, a lot about the mechanics of photography, a lot about developing instincts, a lot about the birds, and a lot about what I/we can and cannot control in the making of photographs. The relative contributions of things including skill, persistence, equipment, vision, knowledge, and luck is a subject of much interest and something that I’m still working out. Clearly a photograph of a goose, filling the frame as it rises abruptly into the sky, does require some skill and some equipment. (I think vision is important, too, though it is hard to have a conscious vision in the fractions of a second during which such things occur.) Just as clearly, there are many things in such a photograph that the photographer cannot control, and plain old luck is very much an important elements. Over all of this is the need to be there a lot, since skill and vision and opportunity are all increased by practice.

I photograph this subject fairly often, traveling to areas where such subjects are found every winter. Sometimes nothing much happens — the light is poor, the birds are somewhere else, I’m looking in the wrong direction. But the more I’m in the field the more likely that I’ll encounter a situation that is special and the more likely I’ll be ready to do something useful with it. This was one of those lucky moments. In a place where the birds are all too often at a distance, I found them settled in nearby. I remained in my vehicle, with the camera on my lap, as I crept up very, very slowly. (At times I might have moved only a few inches in a minute.) Any time I sensed the birds going on alert I simply paused and waited. Eventually I was closer to them than I have ever gotten before in the wild, and they took less and less apparent notice of my presence. As always happens, eventually the flock took off, mere feet from my position, and I was able to make a few quick photographs of the event from a very close perspective.

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.
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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Friendly Pizza

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Friendly Pizza
A bright red pizza shop on a cold winter day in Manhattan

Friendly Pizza. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bright red pizza shop on a cold winter day in Manhattan

This was one among a string of very cold days in New York City between Christmas and New Years Day. The light was “gray” (though, objectively speaking, “blue” might be a more accurate description) as a result of this weather and of being in the urban canyons of Manhattan. The streets of Manhattan are often very busy and there is a lot to see, but in many areas the actual appearance of the streets is pretty much all business. Aside from those exceptions — some parks and stores, for example — much of the street/sidewalk scene is more about practical than aesthetics. On a cold day this seemed especially true, except that on such a day the contrast with a shop like this one, with its bright red and yellow colors and bright lights, was perhaps stronger than usual.

I sometimes struggle a bit to explain what I “see” when making my street photographs — I know what I’m after but it isn’t easy to put into words. However, I think this photograph does include some of the elements. I see the street as a kind of urban landscape, where the size and color and relatives shapes of things matters. I’m also intrigued by shops, especially when something makes them stand out. (Here it is the color and the corner location.) Perhaps even more important, I’m always on the look out for fleeting human tableaux that form and are gone — here with the fellow striding purposefully toward the shop entrance, the slow-moving man with the wheeled suitcase, and the woman in the winter coat.

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

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

Geese, Dusk, Pond, and Tree

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Geese, Dusk, Pond, and Tree
Geese take off over pond and tree at dusk, San Joaquin Valley

Geese, Dusk, Pond, and Tree. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Geese take off over pond and tree at dusk

This day in the wetlands was something of a surprise. When I arrived before dawn, the light was dreary, with a shield of clouds from a passing cold front hiding the sky and the sun, with the exception of a very narrow band along part of the eastern horizon. There was little photograph in this light, but before long the sun rose though that gap and provided perhaps ten minutes of beautiful light… and then that show was over and the flat light returned. All morning long it remained cloudy, though that band of open sky in the east gradually expanded and worked its way toward my position.

Just past midday I finally took a break and left to grab a bite to eat. An hour later I was back, and now the clouds above this area were breaking up and the light was starting to be interesting. By evening most of the sky was clear, though the air remained hazy — not unusual for this part of the world in winter. I looked around for the birds that I wanted to photograph, but wasn’t finding any large flocks. Finally I made it back to where I started… just as geese began to fly out from their resting place in nearby ponds. I put a long lens on the camera and continued photographing well past sunset, as the sky darkened and waves of birds continued to fly away. In the end, this day was a reminder that sometimes finding beautiful conditions requires facing some less exciting light… and being persistent and patient.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

W!

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W!
“W!” — Colorful painting and graffiti on metal door, New York City

Continuing my current pattern of wild back-and-forth swings among subjects, today I retreat from the foggy California wetlands and head back to New York City for some wild color. There’s nothing in the photograph to let you know this, but it was a bitterly cold winter day when I made the photograph. Almost nothing stops me from walking with my camera when I visit New York, though the 20 degree (and colder!) temperatures and biting winds did their best on this day. We started walking in Lower Manhattan, near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal (a very windy place!) and headed uptown on a somewhat random path. The route took us through some places you might not bother to visit on a tourist trip to the city, but it did turn up subjects like this intense example of street art painted on the roll-up door of a small business. If memory serves, this was the day that we finally made it to Veselka, the Ukrainian restaurant. As we walked and got colder and colder, the thought of borscht and other goodies became more and more attractive. Veselka did not disappoint.

About this photograph and its dissonance with other work I post, such as wilderness landscapes, seascapes, and migratory birds. I know that some photographers prefer to focus on a particular range of subjects. (There are fine reasons for making that choice, in fact.) But I have at least a couple of reasons for photographing a wider range of subjects. First, I come from a background in music, where the idea of performing only one style of music (say, Baroque trio sonatas) all the time seems incredibly constraining — so seeking out a wider range seems nature to me. Second, I like to think that these different subjects are still united by whatever it is that constitutes my way of seeing… and that there might be a bit of the landscape photographer in the city and a bit of the street photographer in the landscape work.

TWO

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.