Tag Archives: pond

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

Wetlands Tree, Fog

February 19, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A tree and brush reflected in still water of a fog-shrouded wetland pond

These are my favorite days in California’ Great Central Valley, the winter days when the tule fog forms and covers the landscape, making almost everything seem mysterious. On days when most sane people avoid driving in this fog, I head this direction hoping I’ll find it. In certain areas, even when it is clear almost everywhere else, the fog can form above the winter wetlands and quickly drop visibility to near zero. (One of the strangest but characteristic experiences is driving slowly through pre-dawn darkness and fog so thick that you can barely see more than feet in front of you, yet being able to look straight up through the shallow fog layer to see the moon and stars overhead.)

It was tremendously foggy on the February morning. Arriving at this refuge we could hear thousands of geese and cranes off in the invisible distance in almost all directions, but we could not see a single bird. Eventually, on a perimeter road circling the wetlands, I came across this spot were a few trees stand in the shallow, still water. The fog hides distant elements of the landscape or at least mutes them, giving prominence to closer features that might otherwise be lost in background detail. The central tree, visually muted even though it is barely fifty feet from my camera position, curves above the reflecting water and its skeletal form stands out from the nearly invisible background plants and water that are almost invisible in the fog.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Wetlands, Morning

January 15, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Flooded Sacramento Valley wetlands in the early morning

While I tell myself that I go to places like this to photograph birds, the truth is that little spots like this one may be more my target. Imagine waking many hours before dawn, and against your instincts starting to move quickly and efficiently to arise, make breakfast, fix lunch, brew coffee, and load a car. Then drive many hours in the dark, radio playing, as the invisible landscape slides past and the world consists mostly of what I see in the headlight beams. Getting close to my destination the sky begins to glow a bit, but I’m still driving, in the world of a noisy car and freeway speeds.

Finally I leave the freeway and drive a relatively short distance to my Central Valley destination. My first stop is still all business — arriving, I park and change into cold weather clothing and set up camera and lenses and get back in the car. I start out on some gravel road around the area I’ve chosen to photograph, though the sun has yet to rise, and I’m focused on finding birds to photograph. A bit later I finally begin to slow down, and with the car windows rolled down in the cold morning air I stop and turn the motor off and sit next to a place like this one and everything is finally still.

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

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

Geese, Morning

January 10, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A huge flock of geese settled in under San Joaquin Valley dawn sky

Arriving near here before dawn on New Year’s Day 2016, our little group was a bit surprised to hear very few birds. Typically they are the first thing we notice when we get out of our vehicles — many thousands of birds raucously greeting the dawn. But on this morning there were almost no bird sounds at all. There was a rumor of geese nearby along a country road, so some of us headed that direction, and we did find a modest sized group of birds there. It wasn’t an astonishing number, but it least there were some.

Settling in to wait for dawn and perhaps more birds, things were fairly quiet. But before long more geese began to fly in, arriving in groups from the south and settling in on the ponds. In this place that can often be extremely foggy, the fog was thinner on this morning, and the hazy dawn light filtered through to shine on the water and silhouette the trees.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Tree, Wetlands, Morning Fog

December 25, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Merry Christmas 2015!

Thin dawn fog floats around the base of a solitary autumn tree in San Joaquin Valley wetlands

This landscape is ostensibly about the migratory birds at this time of year, from late fall through the winter months. These ponds, which are just fields during the hot Central Valley summer, typically fill with shallow water and become the winter home for uncounted numbers of geese, sandhill cranes, ibises, and more. It was, in fact, the birds that first brought me out here in the winter, and they still call me back every year.

But there is much more to this landscape than photographs of birds. In fact, my strongest sensory associations with the place are not about the visual appearance of the wildlife for the most part, but are instead about a host of other things. And this simple photograph, for me at least, evokes the sensory recall of those other elements. To a person who may not have been here at this time of year, many things familiar to me cannot be contained in the photograph. The sound of the birds, continuous and often raucous, is central — and it is the thing that most immediately gets my attention when I visit. The fog is a big part of the experience — not just its ability to mute the details of the landscape, but also the sensations of cold and damp and what it does to the quality of light, especially at dawn. In addition, this is one of those California places allow me to extend the color season for three months or more. It begins in September in highest reaches of the Sierra, works its way down (as aspens change) to the high desert (with cottonwoods), then the Sierra foothills, then to the coastal hills, and finally to the lowlands where, as in this photograph, “fall” color remains until nearly the new year.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: pond

Wetlands Tree, Fog

Winter Wetlands, Morning

Geese, Morning

Tree, Wetlands, Morning Fog

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