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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People, Photographs: Photographers, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Photographer Scot Miller

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Photographer Scot Miller
Photographer Scot Miller looking for the next photograph in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Photographer Scot Miller. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographer Scot Miller looking for the next photograph in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Scot is one of a group of photographers I photograph with in the Sierra just about every summer. Our habit is to make our way into a suitable backcountry location (hiking, with pack animal support), set up a base camp, and then photograph the heck out of the surrounding area for a week or more. These trips are a pleasure and very productive for a range of reasons. By staying in one place for a time we have the opportunity to really get to know the terrain and light — we can discover a subject and then revisit it to improve our vision of this subject or to work with it in different light or conditions. And because we remain in a base camp and hike out each day to make photographs, our focus can be entirely on photography — unlike on pack trips when daily travel can reduce the opportunities for photography to mostly morning and evening.

Most to the time we photograph individually — making a photograph in these conditions and of these subjects is, for most people, a solitary activity. Each of us follows his own intuition and experience to investigate and photograph. Yet, we aren’t truly alone. Each day we spend hours as a group in camp during those midday hours when the photography is usually not as appealing. And when we are out making photographs it isn’t unusual at all to run into one another. That’s pretty much what happened here. Scot and I found ourselves in the same area, then went different directions, but not before I made a photograph of him looking over the nearby terrain.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Photographers

Chasing Spring Color In The Temblor Range

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Chasing Spring Color In The Temblor Range
Photographers Robert Eckhardt and Michael Frye photographing spring wildflowers in California’s Temblor Range

Chasing Spring Color In The Temblor Range. Carrizo Plains National Monument, California. April 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographers Robert Eckhardt and Michael Frye photographing spring wildflowers in California’s Temblor Range

It has been my tradition for a number of years to spend the better part of a week photographing in Death Valley National Park around the beginning of April. It turned out that this year’s spring bloom in the Carrizo Plain area was reported to be stupendous, and when I heard that friends of mine would be there photographing I altered my plans to pass through there on my way to DEVA, giving myself an evening and a morning to photograph the wildflowers and landscape.

The group of us decided to head out to some hillsides at the base of the Temblor Range, which runs along the edge of the plain. We drove as far as we could up a dead-end gravel road, then got out, loaded up camera gear, and headed up into the hills, where lots of flowers were covering sections of the hillsides. Here photographers Robert Eckhardt and Michael Frye photograph in a field of yellow and purple high above the base of the hills and the Carrizo Plain.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People, Photographs: Photographers

The Last Light

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The Last Light
Photographer Michael Frye silhouetted against the fading light of winter San Joaquin Valley dusk sky.

The Last Light. San Joaquin Valley, California. December er 26, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographer Michael Frye silhouetted against the fading light of winter San Joaquin Valley dusk sky.

Earlier this week I spent the day out in the San Joaquin Valley, photographing birds and this expansive landscape of water and sky and a few trees. (I also made a quick midday run up to the Sierra foothills on business, and it was wonderful to see the evidence of a relatively normal looking winter in California — water pooling in flats and snow on the peaks!) It was quiet in the morning when I arrived, and there were few others there at dawn. But shortly, as I was stopped photographing sandhill cranes, a car drove up and it was my friends Michael and Claudia — what a wonderful surprise!

These are long days, beginning with a 3:30 wake-up alarm, a two-hour pre-dawn drive in darkness, and arrival at my destination by perhaps 6:30 AM or so. I photograph for a few hours, take a midday break, and then return in the afternoon to photograph until the light is gone. The cycle of the afternoon photography is striking. I begin in good light, watching for the golden hour light to begin. Soon it arrives, and it goes quickly. On this evening it was hard to figure out where the birds would be, so we finally just decided to pick a spot and see what would happen. As the sun set, geese and cranes began to arrive — cranes flying past, mostly, and some geese landing in the ponds in front of us. We continue to find ways to photograph as the light fades — switching from long lenses to wide-angle, working with rather than against the blur of lower shutter speeds. But eventually it just plain becomes too dark and we stop photographing. And this, in many ways, is the most beautiful moment of the entire day — we lower our cameras and simply stand and look, on the best days standing with a small group of friends as the day ends.

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: People, Photographs: Photographers

Photographer Franka M. Gabler

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Photographer Franka M. Gabler
Franka M. Gabler in the field photographing in the San Joaquin Valley

Photographer Franka M. Gabler. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 1, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Franka M. Gabler in the field photographing in the San Joaquin Valley

I often photograph alone — ultimately, most photography of the sorts I do tends to be a solo thing — but sometimes I do get together with other photographers (and occasionally painters and assorted others) in the field. In fact, some of us have a bit of a tradition of meeting in the Central Valley to welcome the new year in the company of one another and of many thousands of migratory birds! Among other things, these get-togethers are a fine opportunity to photograph one another!

I made this photograph of friend and photographer Franka Mlikota Gabler on New Year’s Day this year, as all of us were on a wild goose chase — literally!

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.