Tag Archives: rise

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

Sunrise, Wetlands

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Sunrise, Wetlands
Winter sun rising through morning clouds is reflected in a Central Valley wetlands pond.

Sunrise, Wetlands. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Winter sun rising through morning clouds is reflected in a Central Valley wetlands pond.

This is a photograph from the same morning that produced another sunrise photograph I recently shared — one with the sun a bit lower and cranes flying above. Usually I might be disappointed to find morning clouds above the distant Sierra Nevada, but this time they were just thick/thin enough to be an advantage. The muted the intensity of the direct sun. I made this photograph just as the sun moved above a thicker band of clouds.

The foreground expanse of water obviously reflects the sunrise light and colors, but the closest portions reflect other clouds higher in the sky and less colorful. In the middle a large group of sandhill cranes stands in the shallow water.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes, Sunrise, Winter Sky

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Cranes, Sunrise, Winter Sky
“Cranes, Sunrise, Winter Sky” — Sandhill cranes fly in winter sky as sun rises above the Sierra Nevada.

For weeks I have been thinking about how little time remains before many of our migratory birds depart. I have been eyeing my schedule and the weather conditions looking for the right time to go look for the birds. Ideally I want fog, but that has been missing, first due to a string of very warm days and more recently to unusually cold and wet weather. So I stopped waiting for the perfect conditions that might not arrive, and I headed out to the Central Valley before the cold arrived.

I never know precisely what conditions I’ll encounter. On this visit I knew that forecasts predicted an incoming weather system. Fortunately the early clouds only improved the visual conditions. (Later it clouded up, but then it cleared well before sunset — sometimes I get lucky!) It is easy to point the camera at the rising sun out here, but usually that isn’t so productive since the light overwhelms everything else. But on this morning the sun rose into clouds that muted its intensity. I made this photograph as a flock of sandhill cranes flew past.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Badlands Canyon

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Badlands Canyon
Badlands hills and slopes rise from a Death Valley wash.

Badlands Canyon. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Badlands hills and slopes rise from a Death Valley wash.

The impetus for this photograph was originally the dark rocks distributed across the smooth, hard surface in the foreground. I started from a camera position to the right of this scene, photographing across the rocks and into the light, which backlit the rocks and made the smooth surface glow. But I wasn’t quite happy with the result so I moved around a bit… and eventually decided to place this ascending canyon behind the rocks.

This part of Death Valley National Park, like other locations there, features stratified deposits of remarkably contrast colors and textures. Here nearly back layers alternate with other layers that are almost white. The formations go on for great distances, and you can see that a bit here by looking up the valley in the center to distant peaks with similar erosion patterns.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Winter Dawn, Panamint Mountains

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Winter Dawn, Panamint Mountains
In dawn light, the Panamint Mountains rise from Death Valley to snow-covered Telescope Piak.

Winter Dawn, Panamint Mountains. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

In dawn light, the Panamint Mountains rise from Death Valley to snow-covered Telescope Piak.

At the current time many road (and the locations they access) in Death Valley National Park are closed as a result of earlier flooding and washouts. Before I went there this past week I was aware of some closures, but when I arrived I discovered that some of my planned destinations were unavailable. I changed plans, improvised, and still found plenty to see and do in the park, and my list of planned locations remains for my next visit.

If plans had not changed, I would not likely have come back with this photograph. I often make relatively last-minute decisions about where to photograph based on light and sky conditions, and when I noticed that the air was clearer than usual — important given the vast distances in this park — I headed to a location with a view of the first morning light on the Panamint Mountains and their snow-capped summit of Telescope Peak. To give some idea of the distances, the highest peak is perhaps roughly twenty-five miles from my camera position.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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