Tag Archives: river

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

Cranes, Woodland Haze

January 19, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of sandhill cranes flies above fields and woodland.

Yesterday I managed to make it out the valley with the main goal of visiting the reception for “Valley Focus: On Photography,” a wonderful exhibit at the Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock. (Note: Those of us in the San Francisco Bay Area, spoiled by the proximity of a lot of really top-notch art, sometimes forget that there is “good stuff” elsewhere in the state. The Carnegie Center is a fine example.) It is about a two-hour drive out there from my home, and I was thinking that I could leave in the mid-afternoon and make it in time for the 5:00 PM reception… until I was reminded of something I should have been thinking of, the monumentally awful commute traffic along my intended route between the Bay Area and the Central Valley. So I left early, with a plan to visit some wild areas I have wanted to look at for some time.

It rained, sometimes hard, during the first part of the drive, but as I dropped down into the great valley it was clear that I had gotten ahead of the weather front — clouds behind me, broken clouds and blue sky ahead, and glowing light coming over the mountains to the west. I headed south and then east, finally locating a somewhat out-of-the-way spot where there was access to bird viewing. It wasn’t the ideal place to watch the birds, but there were some wonderful woodlands off to the west along a river. I made this photograph from a slightly elevated position, looking toward those trees as a flock of sandhill cranes arrived and then landed nearby.

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

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

River of Aspens

November 25, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A grove of colorful autumn aspen trees traces the path of a Sierra Nevada gully

Perhaps a more appropriate title could be “Another River of Aspens” — such features are ubiquitous in the Sierra and other locations, where aspens frequently are found along stream beds and can spread out as water might when they reach the lower and flatter elevations. As a result, the “streams” of trees can seem to flow in almost that same way that water might. This is a particularly obvious example, as the trees meander along the descending gully, spread out into a fan at its base, and then arrive at the shoreline of a lake. (The pattern also is similar to that of alluvial fans and even some forms seen below glaciers.)

We were at this location rather early on a fall morning. It is a place that is popular — a bit too popular these days — with photographers and others, but hard to resist if one is nearby for other purposes. We arrived before dawn and spent some time photographing in the cold, pre-sunrise light before we packed up and headed off to those “other purposes” nearby. This very early light is different from what we experience a bit later in the day. It can be quite blue in quality — often so much so that compensation is required during post processing — but the soft light can produce a more subtle effect with light getting into the shadows and revealing some of their details.

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

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

River Of Aspens

October 14, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A river of autumn aspen trees descends a valley and turns around a side hill

I made this photograph during a brief visit to a familiar place, one that I probably have photographed from time to time over a period of about a decade. It is interesting to think about how my relationship to the location has changed over the years. The first time I visited, it held an almost mythical attraction, with several features that are iconic enough that at least three views of the location are quite well-known. But back then the number of photographers going here was a fraction of what it is today when sometimes it feels like the “east side” is virtually over-run by photographers in the fall. I suppose that this allowed me to mostly get past those standard views and simply regard this location as simply one among many beautiful spots in the general area.

Yet, certain features still have the potential to produce especially memorable conditions. This “river of aspens,” snaking down a shallow canyon and around an outcropping before ending at the shore of a lake, is one of these features. The colors can vary quite a bit during the season and between successive seasons. I’ve arrived to find it almost completely green… or to find that almost all of the leaves had already fallen. I’ve been chased away by snow and wind. This year the situation was, again, somewhat different from what I’ve seen in the past. The colors were mostly intense when I arrived, yet they ranged from green through almost bare trees. Rather than trying to take in the entire view, I constrained my framing and worked for a composition that might draw attention to the fluid curve of the grove as it nears its end at the shoreline of the lake.

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

Two Domes, Evening

September 1, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light on granite domes, meadows, and forest, Yosemite National Park

As always when staying in and around Tuolumne Meadows — though this time I had to drive in from a more distant campground — I was out in the meadows as evening approached. The campground was still closed due to late-melting winter snows, so there were even fewer than usual people out enjoying the late-day light and benign clouds floating overhead.

As I walked through the meadow I enjoyed the constantly changing landscape and patterns of clouds and sunlight moved across the forest, meadow, and mountains. From moment to moment the light changed significantly enough to almost create new landscapes. At the moment of this photograph the main subject was actually darkened a bit by the shadow of a passing cloud — perhaps giving it a more ominous appearance — but the light was bright on the smaller, more distant dome and on the meadow and forest at the base of the dome.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: river

Cranes, Woodland Haze

River of Aspens

River Of Aspens

Two Domes, Evening

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