Tag Archives: purple

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

Birds, Dusk

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Birds, Dusk
Birds, Dusk

Birds, Dusk. San Joaquin Valley, California. February 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Birds in the fading light of winter dusk about the San Joaquin Valley

This is likely to at least partially a bird week as I continue to share photographs of migratory birds and their San Joaquin Valley environment from last winter. Certain responsibilities have kept me at home rather than in the field, so I’ve been trying to put the time to good use by reviewing photographs that I made during the past six month. As I move on to the next thing, I sometimes leave behind photographs which, at the time, interest me less than those newer ones, and coming back looking at them later on almost always leads to a few discoveries.

I made this photograph at the end of a long and productive day of (mostly) bird photography. We began in fog before dawn and shot through the morning as the sun came up and eventually the fog began to dissipate, leaving behind that hazy winter Central Valley atmosphere. After a midday break we returned in the late afternoon, and shot right on into the evening until the light was truly gone — perhaps just a bit past gone. After sunset as the dusk sky darkened I simply lengthened exposures to compensate and intentionally worked with the blur created by the birds and by camera motion. Even now, months later, I remember the sensations of the sky filling with what seemed like nervously active birds of many types.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Commentary, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Dawn, San Francisco Bay

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Dawn, San Francisco Bay
Dawn, San Francisco Bay

Dawn, San Franicsco Bay. San Francisco, California. March 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light, fog, and high clouds over the northern shoreline of San Francisco Bay

This early morning late-winter view of San Francisco Bay looks back to the east from the Marin Headlands. The morning had started with somewhat murky conditions—high clouds above, atmospheric haze over the bay, and for along the San Francisco waterfront and across the bay toward Oakland. I was hoping for color, but the moment of sunrise was a bit disappointing in that regard. The probably was some color, but it was muted by the high clouds and haze and it happened mostly behind that fog bank floating above the East Bay.

But soon the high clouds began to pick up some color, and this pinkish glow reflected down towards the water, the fog, and the haze, gently coloring the scene. I thought that I might break up the many horizontal layers of light and color by including a it of the foreground land, and I experimented with several compositions: one that centered Angel Island in the scene, one that caught a bit of the edge of Angel Island and a bit of the Tiburon shoreline, and then this one which just included a bit of the north bay shoreline instead. Having watched so many sunrises, I still am struck by how this visual beauty arrives without a sound.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetland Fog, Dawn

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Wetland Fog, Dawn
Wetland Fog, Dawn

Wetland Fog, Dawn. San Joaquin Valley, California. February 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First dawn light glows faintly through winter fog above a San Joaquin Valley wetland marsh

This was definitely shot during the morning blue hour, the pre-dawn light was here tinged with pink color from first sunlight striking high clouds far above the ground-hugging layer of thick fog. This is another photograph from my favorite Central Valley haunt, where I often go to photograph birds during the cool months of late-fall through very early spring.

The fog was thick but not deep, and as we drove to this area we were able to look up through it and see the predawn sky even though the murk was thick enough at ground level to force us to drive very slowly. Arriving at our destination, it was foggy and still, but as the first light of morning began to arrive, the pink color of high clouds illuminated the fog and created a glow of a somewhat unusual color. I had a few minutes along the edge of a pond to photograph in this fleeting light. The first photographs, like this one, were a combination of blue and faint pink/purple. A moment later the pink became even more intense, and then as the light increased the color faded and the fog became more transparent, allowing a view upwards through it to those higher clouds.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Purple Trillium Flower

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Purple Trillium Flower
Purple Trillium Flower

Purple Trillium Flower. Muir Woods National Monument, California. March 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Purple trillium flower beneath the canopy of the redwood forest, Muir Woods National Monument

The annual blossoming of the trillium flowers at Muir Woods is always a reminder that spring is just around the corner. These flowers bloom in the first half of March, in wild abundance in non-drought years. The number of flowers seemed smaller this year, most likely due to the historic sequence of three very dry years in California, with the current season being perhaps one of the driest on record. Fortunately, after several months of virtually no rain at all, the tap was turned back on briefly in the past month and there is now at least some moisture in this redwood forest environment.

After photographing here for some years, I have a pretty good idea of when and where to look for these flowers. Although it took me a bit of time to get there, as I was distracted along the way by other subjects, I eventually headed straight to a familiar trail that traverses a hillside above a creek. Here there are many trillium plants, and in the morning theory are still in the soft light that is most conducive to photographing them. Since there are usually quite a few of the flowers, I tend to almost think less about the individual flowers and more about their placement against the background of other forest elements and about what sort of light they have. Here I found a flower that was in a position such that I could shoot down onto it, placing leaves behind the blossom, and which provided a darker background without a lot of distracting detail.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.