Tag Archives: pond

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands Pond, Winter Sky

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Wetlands Pond, Winter Sky
Winter dawn clouds reflected in a California Central Valley wetlands pond.

Wetlands Pond, Winter Sky. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Winter dawn clouds reflected in a California Central Valley wetlands pond.

We were not sure quite what we would find this morning. We had been photographing in this area over the past couple of day, mostly in less-than-spectacular conditions. The first day was marked by the passage of an exceptional weather system, and the second was “pleasant” but less than striking. Hey, it happens! We know that another from was due in as we headed out before dawn, so we were excited to see colorful sky develop as the first light appeared.

Arriving at our destination, the pre-dawn sky was perhaps the most intensely red that I’ve seen in this location. I made a few photographs of that, but it was actually a bit difficult to see how to make a useful photograph of it. (Stay tuned, though…) A bit later, just as the sun was about to break the line of the horizon, the sky overhead had lost the most intense color, thus providing a bit more color variation as I photographed across a Central Valley wetlands pond.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Tule Fog

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White Pelicans, Tule Fog
A flock of white pelicans swims acroiss a webland pond blanketed by morning tule fog.

White Pelicans, Tule Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A flock of white pelicans swims acroiss a webland pond blanketed by morning tule fog.

When I began photographing before dawn on this late-autumn morning, the fog was extremely thick. I could hear birds all around me, but I was barely able to see them and photographing them was initially out of the question. Gradually the fog began to drift a bit, and it thinned a bit in the light from the sun rising above the fog. Before long birds began to become visible, though I was still working at the borderline of sufficient light. It was at about this point that I caught sight of this line of white pelicans swimming slowly across a pond.

Every time I encounter these birds I think back to the first time I saw them. I had seen and photographed the coastal brown pelicans for years, but somehow I did not realize that white pelicans were in California! On a morning like this one I photographed some white birds that were barely visible in the fog… and misidentified them as geese or similar. Later, looking closely at the photographs, it hit me that these were very strange-looking geese, indeed! It was only at that point that I even realized that there were white pelicans here!

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

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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

Pond, Fog, and Sun

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Early morning sun muted by tule fog, illuminates a late-autumn pond.

Pond, Fog, and Sun. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Early morning sun muted by tule fog, illuminates a late-autumn pond.

Continuing with the fog theme, here is another photograph from this week’s visit to the California Central Valley. Even though I scheduled this visit because I knew there was a good chance of thick fog, I was a bit surprised by how much of it I encountered. I ran into serious fog before leaving Santa Clara County to cross to the Great Valley, and it was a more or less constant companion on my two-hour drive. When I arrived at my destination before sunrise the fog was extremely thick, and there was hardly enough light for photography at first.

On these days the fog determines what the landscape looks like: what is the condition of the light? How transitory are the conditions? How far can we see? Is the fog dim and gray or does light in the sky above add color and make it luminous. While it started out on the dim and gray side on this morning, the thick fog wasn’t deep enough to block the light from the rising sun.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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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

Pond, Clearing Fog

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Tule fog begins to clear above a Central Valley pond on a late-autumn morning.

Pond, Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Tule fog thins above a Central Valley pond on a late-autumn morning.

The core of my landscape photography follows a pattern linked to the seasons — no surprise, I suppose, since the landscape is so profoundly affected by seasonal changes. Every year at this time my attention turns to California’s Great Central Valley, where the combination of migratory birds, tule fog, and its minimal landscape become my focus. I finally made it out there this week for the first time this season.

I suppose “normal people” would avoid this area on a day like this. Objectively speaking, this thick fog is not conducive to travel, and those who live there get tired of days and weeks of the cold and damp. But these conditions turn a landscape that can be a bit pedestrian into something mysterious and atmospheric. When I arrived before dawn the fog was so thick that I couldn’t see more than perhaps a hundred feet. But shortly after sunrise the fog began to drift and thin, faint windows opened in the sky above, and soft light began to subtly illuminate the landscape.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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