Tag Archives: reflect

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mono Lake, Reflected Clouds

December 17, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Mono Lake has many moods. For example, as I post this, it is a quiet and lonely place where snow covers the mountains to the west, fog may fill in for days, and few people visit. In summer it can be very hot and often quite windy, with blowing dust and waves on the lakes surface. At dawn the light can be subtly colorful; at midday it may be intense and flat.

I made this photograph on a day just before the start of autumn, when the lake’s surface was unusually calm, to the point of almost justifying the description “glass-like.” I went to a place that is not visited as frequently as some of the more accessible and iconic locations, and from here I was able to photograph right at the water’s edge, a vantage point from which I was able to include a few isolated clouds floating past plus their reflections in the still surface of the water. At times like this, the strongest impressions of the Mono Lake Basin for me are of great distances, the immense sky, still water, and deep silence.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Water Plants, Reflections

December 8, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Water plants reflected in the surface of a wetland pond

Subjects like these are almost easy to find and almost irresistible to photograph when I’m out chasing wild geese in the California Central Valley wetlands. While the birds are the main subject, or so I tell myself, there is much else to look at — the trees and grasses, the immense sky, the effects of fog and haze, and the patterns and reflections on the surface of the wetland ponds.

This was a very foggy morning, somewhat to my surprise. I always check the weather conditions before heading out here, usually in the hope that there will be at least some fog. But this time there were no indications that it would be anything but sunny and clear, at least not until my pre-departure final weather check, where I found one report of ground fog at a nearby airport. And, sure enough, once I got within a half hour of my destination the fog began to develop, and after my arrival in continued to build. So much of my morning was spent photographing in Central Valley tule 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

Evening Trees

December 23, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening trees reflected in the surface of San Joaquin Valley wetlands

The primary attraction for me in these San Joaquin Valley wetlands is, or so I tell myself, the hordes of migratory birds that arrive here in the late fall and over-winter — geese, ibises, sandhill cranes, along with egrets and herons and more. They draw me to the Valley, just a couple of miles away from my home over the coast range, throughout the late fall through winter period. But once I get there I think I am as interested in the landscape as in the wildlife.

We had just about finished a full day of photographing (mostly) the migratory birds. Late in the day I always start to think about what my final subject will be, and then I try to extend my shooting time as late into the failing light as possible. I might continue to photograph birds in deep dusk, raising ISO and lowering shutter speed and working with the resulting motion blur. On this late-fall evening I went in a different direction, and I put the camera on the tripod and finished up with some blue-hour landscape photographs of the wetlands, the trees, and the evening clouds.

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

Shoreline, Forest, Morning

December 1, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light and forested shoreline reflected on the surface of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

It is way past time to share this photograph — it has been sitting here since I made it back in July! The location is a familiar one to those who visit the Yosemite high country and drive across Tioga Pass Road, but sometimes I do stop at those iconic locations and make a photograph, especially in a quiet and uncrowded morning like this one.

Lakes like this one are among the places that often make me wonder if visitors have any idea what they are missing. So many people, for practical reasons or because they don’t know better, come to such places in the middle of the day or in the afternoon. While they are certainly beautiful at any time, these locations are almost (but not quite always!) at their most beautiful at the very beginning and very end of the day. Lakes like this one are often completely still at dawn, sometimes with a bit of fog rising from their surface, and the surroundings are usually quiet and uncrowded. Even in a spot like this one — where I can assure you there were crowds later in the day — I can have the place virtually to myself.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: reflect

Mono Lake, Reflected Clouds

Water Plants, Reflections

Evening Trees

Shoreline, Forest, Morning

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