Tag Archives: san joaquin

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

Snow Geese, Sunset Light

December 24, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A group of snow geese fly into sunset light

I made this photograph on my second visit to the San Joaquin Valley migratory birds this season, on a day that features some very beautiful light near the end of the day. As always, I arrived before dawn, at first photographing in very thin fog. (Overall, this year so far seems have produced a lot less fog than usual and much less than last year.) I photographed all morning, finally took my midday break, then returned in the mid-afternoon.

This group of birds managed to pose quite nicely for me. There are many challenges when it comes to getting a group of birds together in one photograph. There are the usual issues — the birds need to fly past within camera distance, they must be oriented so that they are decently lit, there must be enough light to allow a fast enough shutter speed in order to minimize motion blur. While “decent” light can work, better light is, well, better. In this case the group of birds cooperated and flew toward the low angle light source of the sun, with just enough side light to enhance their features. Another challenge is taking advantage of opportunities when the birds line up in interesting and photogenic ways. Here they are all (well, almost all) headed the same direction. Wings are mostly in interesting and dynamic positions. There is barely any overlap among the birds, and the one small overlap has the head of the closer bird visible.

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.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Central Valley Trees and Fog

December 21, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late autumn trees and fog, San Joaquin Valley

I have had my eye on these trees for several years now. In fact, I have photographed them a few times, though I wasn’t quite happy with the results. They stand near a spot that I frequently visit during the late fall through winter months, when migratory birds live in the nearby wetlands and fields. In fact, that is why I was there on this December day. After a couple of hours of bird photography I looked over in the direction of the trees and thought that the light might be right for a photograph.

The light in this part of the Central Valley is astonishingly variable, especially in the winter and near-winter months. There can be high thin clouds, a Pacific weather front, general haze, or fog so thick that you can’t see 100 feet… unless you look up to see the stars and the moon! This day was quite variable, and that was part of the fun of photographing it. Fog was forming when we arrived before dawn. It stuck around a while, thinned and morphed into a sort of general atmospheric haziness. Above the fog there were high clouds that also muted the light a bit. Here and there, actual fog banks formed. This photograph has a little of all of these things: the light on the trees is muted, fog banks stand in the distance with high clouds overhead.

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

Geese, Sunset Sky

December 17, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Geese, Sunset Sky Thousands of migratory geese fly into the sunset sky above the San Joaquin Valley

Thousands of migratory geese fly into the sunset sky above the San Joaquin Valley

My pattern when photographing migratory birds is generally to arrive early, photograph until I’m too tired or the light becomes less interesting, take a midday lunch break, and then return to make more photographs. Late in the day, as evening approached, I returned to this area to see what I could find. Geese were around — one large flock near the entrance to this refuge and another visible in the distance on the far side. I made my way slowly around the perimeter, eventually arriving at the spot where that more distant group had settled in.

For a while I photographed them settled in shallow water among plants, thinking that perhaps this was where they would spend the night, in which case I might just continue to photograph here until dusk. But before long I began to sense that familiar restless in the flock, and a few small groups of geese took to the air from moment to moment, leaving the rest of the noisy flock behind. Then, suddenly and for no apparent specific reason, the birds suddenly lifted off, with virtually the entire flock taking to the air at once and heading off to the southwest. I quickly photographed as they passed directly overhead, then continued to follow them as the group stretched out toward the western hills and sunset clouds.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: san joaquin

Evening Trees

Central Valley Trees and Fog

Geese, Sunset Sky

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