Tag Archives: north

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

Sandhill Cranes, Dusk

January 31, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of sandhill cranes against the dusk sky above the Merced National Wildlife Reserve, California.

The sandhill cranes are amazing creatures. On the ground they seem rather ungainly, but in the air they seem, to me at least, to fly with remarkable grace and strength. Several things can make them tricky to photograph. On the ground, they are frequently in less than photogenic locations such as turned under fields, and they are skittish, moving away quickly if you come too close. In flight they can appear and disappear quickly, and if you aren’t looking the right direction you can miss them as they fly over. And they seem to come in waves – you can wait for a while without seeing any of them, let down your guard and become distracted, the suddenly groups of them seem to appear.

I had fewer opportunities to photograph them close up at Merced National Wildlife Refuge on this evening than I had earlier in the day back north at Woodbridge Road. But a few did come close and I managed to photograph this portion of a large group that flew over as the evening light was turning portions of the sky pink and purple.

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

Solitary Bird, Twilight Sky

January 30, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A solitary bird perchs against the twilight sky in a tree at the Merced National Wildlife Reserve in California’s Central Valley.

On this last weekend of January, 2012, I spent my Saturday photographing migratory birds and other related subjects in the Central Valley of California with my friend David Hoffman. We started before dawn south of Sacramento along Woodbridge Road, moved to the Cosumnes River Wildlife Reserve around midday, and then ended up shooting until well after sunset at the Merced National Wildlife Reserve further south down the valley.

At this time of year, one of the most amazing wildlife miracles takes place just over the hill from coastal California as migratory come south to spend the winter in the wetlands of the Central Valley. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I spent almost my entire life as a Californian unaware of this, even though I’ve always spent a lot of time in the outdoors and even though I had friends who did know about this. On the other hand, it was quite an experience to “discover” this annual event just last year when a friend happened to mention the Woodbridge Road area to me one day.

This photograph is the very last photograph I made on this trip and it was getting quite dark by this time. (EXIF file viewers may notice that the exposure was over three seconds long. I think I need to thank that bird for holding so still!) I had been so focused on looking at the scene through the viewfinder and on making photographs that when I finally looked up from the camera I was shocked to realize just how dark it had become!

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Owens Valley, Tungsten Hills, and Mount Tom

January 29, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Massive Mount Tom rises above the Tungsten Hills and the high desert terrain of Owens Valley near Bishop, California.

When I’m driving to a photography destination, I often have to suppress the desire to stop and make photographs along the way. If I’m not careful, I can end up spending extra hours on the drive and arrive too late. (Sometimes I plan extra time for my long drives just to accommodate my need to stop and photograph en route.) I cope with sighting photographic potential as I drive by either pretending it isn’t there, filing it away for a later trip… or occasionally giving in and stopping.

As I headed down highway 395 on this winter afternoon, on my way to get a camp site in Death Valley, I was aware of the fact that if I took too long I would end up having to find a camp site and set up camp after dark when I arrived – and my destination was still hours away. But after descending to Round Valley just north of Bishop, California I became more aware of the interesting and somewhat unusually afternoon winter light and I finally just had to make a quick stop. The foreground Owens Valley high desert plants had lost all of their “green,” and now had a range of shades of yellow, brown, red, white, black, and even a bit of near-purple. Beyond them the Tungsten Hills began the rise from the valley toward the crest of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra, here dominated by the bulk of massive Mount Tom, a very tall peak that appears even larger because it sits more to the east than most of the other high peaks. The combination of backlight from above the range and high, thin clouds created a sort of muted sunny effect.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Ridges and Haze

January 28, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning haze and receding ridges above Death Valley.

There is “stuff” to photograph virtually anywhere you go in Death Valley – from the popular, iconic locations to the furthest back-country areas to nondescript turn-outs along whatever road you happen to be on. One of my goals on this January 2012 trip was to shoot some less-obvious locations. While the image is perhaps not “less obvious,” the location is probably not anything you are going to find in your park guidebook.

Early one morning I was out and about, at least partly thinking about where not to shoot – not the obvious places that first come to mind on a Death Valley morning. (I have nothing at all against photographing those places, too, especially when the conditions are just right.) I ended up more or less randomly heading up a road into some mountains, but without a specific goal in mind. I was simply driving along and watching for the “right” conduction of form and light and color. Several times I thought I saw something, but I didn’t stop, instead just making a quick mental note that I might want to come back to these spots and shoot them. (I didn’t on this trip, but I have them filed away for a future visit.) I finally arrived at a junction where the light was good, got out, set up camera and tripod, and set about looking for subjects.

Sometimes I have a pretty good idea of what I’m looking for, but it might surprise some people that I occasionally – perhaps more than you might think – have no specific photographic objective in mind when I get out the gear and begin my “hunt.” I like to joke that I could find myself almost anywhere with a camera and tripod and eventually find something to shoot within 50 feet of my location. (Occasionally, it might even be a good photograph… :-) While I most certainly do like certain locations, in many cases it isn’t so much about the specific place as it is about hunting for and discovering the visual opportunities presented by whatever place I’m in.

So, I started looking around. And I started making photographs. I photographed a nearby hill that caught some “first light” from the east, with more distant hills in the background. I photographed a long view of a haze-filled valley scene. I pointed my camera up a gully filled with rocks and desert plants. I make a picture of a non-description ridge top pinnacle with interesting clouds behind it. And I put the longest lens I had on the camera and shot almost into the sun to photograph this amazing sequence of stacked ridges high along the spine of a nearby mountain range.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: north

Solitary Bird, Twilight Sky

Ridges and Haze

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