Tag Archives: orange

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

Two Pelicans, Sunset

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Two Pelicans, Sunset

Two Pelicans, Sunset. Pacific Coast, California. September 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two pelicans fly above the Pacific Ocean along the California coast at sunset.

I’ve posted photos from this set before, but since it has been a while I’ll share the story again. I had taken by son over to Santa Cruz, where he goes to school, and we decided to drive north up the coast in the early evening and look for photo opportunities. Although this section of the coast is always interesting, on this evening the first few places we stopped just didn’t present any obvious photographic opportunities. Finally I decided to just head for a roadside turnout that I had visited before. It is located right at the edge of the steep bluffs above the ocean, and large sea birds often fly right along the edge, apparently catching the updraft from the wind coming in off the ocean. You can see the birds coming for hundreds of yards in either direction, track them as the approach, and if you are lucky they will pass by mere feet from your position.

Making this setting more interesting and/or more challenging on this evening, the sun was setting behind a bit of off-shore fog – and as I panned to follow the birds the exposure went from fairly normal light on either side of my position to the intensely colorful and very bright light coming through the fog when I was aiming directly out to see as in this photo.

Yes, it really was this color.

keywords: pelican, two, bird, wildlife, fly, wing, sunset, fog, orange, gold, ocean, pacific, coast, light, highway, one, scenic, travel, flight, california, usa, davenport

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Pond, Bishop Creek

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Pond, Bishop Creek

Pond, Bishop Creek. Sierra Nevada, California. October 5, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn colors reflected in a pond on Bishop Creek, Sierra Nevada, California.

After starting my shooting very early in the morning – I had earlier photographed some groves near the turnoff to North Lake and some expansive views of Sabrina Basin from near Aspendell – I continued up the Bishop Creek drainage to this small pond along the upper reaches of Bishop Creek. As I set up in this spot along the southeast shore of the creek, the sun was just beginning to come over the high ridge behind me. As it did so it illuminated the aspen grove on the far side of the creek and added a glow to the dry ferns and creekside plants. I worked quickly and got a few shots as the sun/shade line moved across the trees and plants and soon hit the creek itself.

keywords: pond, water, creek, bishop, shore, bank, shoreline, reflection, mirror, moss, algae, aspen, fir, pine, tree, grove, forest, trunk, branch, leaf, yellow, gold, orange, green, grass, meadow, fern, nature, scenic, travel, fall, autumn, season, landscape, sierra, nevada, california, usa, stock, mountains

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

North Lake, Autumn

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North Lake, Autumn

North Lake, Autumn. Sierra Nevada, California. October 4, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn at North Lake with aspen trees turning yellow and orange and new snow dusting Piute Peak.

Photographed right after the passage of an early season weather front that had dusted Piute Peak with a bit of snow – in fact, it is still snowing up there in this photograph. This photo was made at the lower end of the lake it what is one of the classic photograph spots at North Lake, or so it seems. The next morning I came back to this lake to photograph a nearby aspen grove and I passed by here thinking I might stop and photograph the lake again. That is, I thought so until I passed the spot and saw photographers lining the shoreline here tripod to tripod – I’ve never seen so many photographers trying to find their own personal vision from exactly the same spot at the same time before… ;-) Needless to say, I settled for the photos of the lake I had made the day before, when high winds and intermittent snow seemed to reduce the number of photographers to a more reasonable level.

keywords: autumn, fall, season, north, lake, piute, peak, mountain, ridge, sierra, nevada, range, california, water, reflection, grass, meadow, meadow, forest, grove, aspen, yellow, orange, gold, sky, cloud, snow, dusting, california, usa, scenic, travel, landscape, stock

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

North Lake and Piute Peak, Autumn Snow

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North Lake and Piute Peak, Autumn Snow

North Lake and Piute Peak, Autumn Snow. Sierra Nevada, California. October 4, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An autumn snow squall moves across the upper reaches of Piute Peak with fall colors around North Lake in the foreground. The snow is still falling on the peaks in this photograph, and the high winds have created some choppy lake water. Yes, although you probably can’t tell from this photograph, it was COLD when I shot this!

Photographed on a very cold October morning right after an early season weather front had passed through, dusting Piute Peak with a bit of snow. The post front weather was very windy, as evidenced by the chop on the surface of this small lake.

keywords: piute, peak, north lake, autumn, fall, snow, squall, shower, cloud, blue, sky, mountain, ridge, morning, light, sun, aspen, tree, forest, grove, orange, yellow, green, gold, water, ripple, wave, grass, shore, shoreline, snag, grass, meadow, brush, sierra, nevada, california, range, usa, scenic, travel, season, landscape, stock