Tag Archives: pink

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Sunset Flight

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Sunset Flight
Geese in flight above fields at sunset

Sunset Flight. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Geese in flight above fields at sunset.

Expect to see quite a few bird photographs during the next week or so. David Hoffman and I are featured in “Birdscapes,” an exhibition of our bird photography at the Stellar Gallery in Oakhurst, located near the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. The two of us photograph birds and the landscapes they inhabit all along the Pacific Flyway. There is a lot more information about the show including details of location and dates at this web page. The show opens next week and we’d love to see you at the artist reception on Saturday, February 16 at 5:00-8:00pm at the gallery. If you are heading to Yosemite to see the recent snows or to try your luck at photographing Horsetail Fall, why don’t you swing by and see us?

I made this photograph on a winter evening, as a slight foggy haze filled the atmosphere and the western sky turned a lovely shade of pink. A large flock of geese was alternately feeding on pastureland and erupting into the sky en masse. I made this photograph at the very end of the day as the last faint sunlight illuminated the birds on the ground as other birds arrived to join them.

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: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife, Shows

Snow Geese in Twilight Flight

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A flock of snow geese in flight at twilight

Snow Geese in Twilight Flight. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of snow geese in flight at twilight,

This post is partially about this photograph, partially about birds, and partially about an upcoming event. Stick with me for a moment, and I’ll explain. I came a bit late to photographing birds, having photographed landscapes and other subjects for many years before thinking to approach this subject. For a long time I didn’t regard myself as a “birder” type, but I had a few bird encounters that started me steering in this direction roughly a decade ago. Two of them involved the Pacific Northwest. Back then I did the long drive from the San Francisco Bay Area up to Seattle over two days, starting in the afternoon and passing through the upper Sacramento Valley around dusk. I was amazed to see tens or thousands of birds in the beautiful evening sky, and my interest was piqued. On another visit to Seattle I found myself with a free day and I headed up to the Skagit Valley, not really knowing what I’d see. Soon after arriving I pulled over at a bend in the road near the crossing of the river, and to my astonishment tens of thousands of snow geese descended into the field next to where I had parked.

Since that time photographing birds has become important to me. I’ve come to think of it largely as “birdscape” photography, more about the place of the birds in their landscape and generally not so much about individual birds. I often (though not exclusively) photograph them in flocks, and I work to position them as part of their environment.

And, there is a show coming up! My friend David Hoffman and I are doing a joint exhibit at Stellar Gallery — in Oakhurst at the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. The opening reception will be on February 16 at the Gallery — I’ll share more information soon, and I hope to see you there!

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

High Country, Dawn

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High Country, Dawn
Just before sunrise, soft light and colorful sky above Yosemite high-country peaks, forest, and meadow.

High Country, Dawn. Yosemite National Park, California. July 27 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Just before sunrise, soft light and colorful sky above Yosemite high-country peaks, forest, and meadow.

Sometimes landscape and nature photographers enjoy complaining about certain things required to be in the right places at the right times in order to make photographs of their intended subjects. So, here is a story. The previous day I had been out photographing until the light was gone, and then had to travel back to my dark camp. By the time I finished camp business, it was quite late, and by the time I got to sleep it was less-than-a-full-night’s-sleep until the time I would have to get up. But get up I did, well before dawn. I dressed in the cold and darkness, soon heading out with no coffee or breakfast while the sky was still dark. Before long I began to find potential subjects, even though the light was not yet quite “there.”

Now, behind that story (complaining? false heroism?) is another truth: I feel fortunate to be able to do this! As I ventured out, I found myself almost entirely alone. Even though I was driving on a very popular high country road, I saw almost no one else. Before long the bluish earth shadow line began to drop toward the horizon behind these peaks, and I stopped at a little meadow I know well. Although it is next to the roadway, it was almost completely silent and still, and the meadow plants were covered with dew. I photographed as this brief show of sky color began to fade, and as I finished I thought about the number of people who only come to these places in the middle of the day, and who therefore miss the color and the quiet and the solitude. Is it worth getting out of my sleeping bag in the predawn darkness? Yes!

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: Sierra Nevada

Clearing Sierra Nevada Sunset Clouds

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Clearing Sierra Nevada Sunset Clouds
Last sunset light on clearing storm clouds above the Sierra Nevada, photographed from a commercial airline flight

Clearing Sierra Nevada Sunset Clouds. Above the Sierra Nevada, California. July 7, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Last sunset light on clearing storm clouds above the Sierra Nevada, photographed from a commercial airline flight

We spent the past week in New York City, visiting family and hanging out and doing some photography. (More urban/street photography from the visit will be coming soon.) Our final day there started out with driving rain, but cleared it up in time for us to make our way to the Newark airport for our flight back to California. There were rumors that the storm front passing over the east coast might interfere with our flight, but we were airborne only a few minutes later than scheduled, though the pilot came on the address system to let us know that they had been given a much more southerly route to follow, due to storms further north, and that this might delay our expected 8:45 PM arrival by about 15 minutes or so.

Most people might regard that as a minor inconvenience, but I quickly calculated that this would probably put us right above the Sierra Nevada almost exactly at sunset, possibly providing some interesting opportunities for aerial landscape photography. An hour or so before landing the pilot again came on the system to announce that storms above the Sierra might call create some turbulence. Again, I thought that sounded fine as long as that meant great clouds. There must have been monsoon conditions, as there were already thick clouds well east of the range, and before long I could see a wall of very high storm clouds stretching along the length of the Sierra ahead of us. In fact, the clouds were high enough that they blocked the sun, and I began to doubt that anything photographically interesting would occur. Apparently the crew was looking for an opening through the clouds, since they soon turned a bit to the left/south, and I could see an opening ahead with colorful backlit clouds. As we passed to the south of the cloud wall — and I never could figure out exactly where we were above the range — the last light of the setting sun passed almost horizontally over these thinning clouds, producing brilliant colors and allowing a brief view of snow on the mountains below.

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.