Tag Archives: season

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

Red-winged Blackbird

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Red-winged Blackbird
“Red-winged Blackbird” — A red-winged blackbird perched in wetland plants, San Joaquin Valley.

I photographed this red-winged blackbird perching on wetland plants on New Year’s Day, 2024. (In this light and with the wing in this position, it is possible that it could be a tri-colored blackbird.) Anthropomorphizing animal behavior can be a mistake, but these birds always impress me as a happy bunch. Perhaps that is because their cries and their flight patterns make me happy. They also do a pretty good job of producing synchronized-flight “murmurations.”

They are not easy to photograph. They are small birds, and they fly quickly and often erratically. They hang out in vegetation and retreat to more obscure spots when you come close. And the black plumage of the male birds can lose details in a photo. (I usually over-expose them a bit to retain some detail.) A combination of quiet patience and quick reactions is required if you want to get the shot.

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: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Winter Wave

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Winter Wave
“Winter Wave” — A winter storm wave breaks along the California coast.

This is another photo from the California coast during the recent period of extremely high surf. We spent an afternoon along the Pacific Coast Highway between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay, where the surf was absolutely huge — as large as I’ve ever seen it there. The waves were so big that their spray filled the air along the coast and even spread inland.

The day started out cloudy with light rain from a passing storm system. (The waves came from a different system that was still far out at sea.) As the day wore on the skies began to clear, and I made this photograph when blue skies were beginning to dominate. While the sky was clearing, the high surf remained and the spray still filled the air and softened the light.

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: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Sky

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Autumn Sky
“Autumn Sky” — November morning sky and clouds above California’s Central Valley.

The pre-dawn light on this autumn morning in California’s Central Valley did not look all that promising. It was one of those, “OK, but nothing remarkable” days — lovely, but not with quite the magic I hoped for. As I recall, the earliest light of sunrise was muted by clouds to the east over the Sierra Nevada. But before long things began to improve, and I had a few moments of quite intense light shortly after sunrise.

This is an example of a phenomenon that I’ve learned to watch for. It is a circumstance that increases the potential for brilliant dawn or sunset color, though it is far from a guarantee. On a cloudy morning or evening when the cloud layer ends far to the east (at dawn) or west (at sunset), there is a chance that the sun will briefly shine under the clouds as it touches the horizon, lighting the clouds with intensely colorful light from underneath.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife, Post-processing Workflow

Pelicans, Winter Surf

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Pelcans, Winter Surf
“Pelicans, Winter Surf” — A quartet of brown pelicans flies above raging winter surf off the California coast below San Francisco.

During last week’s extremely big surf we headed right over to the coast to witness and photograph the conditions. Waves were up to 30′ tall and even higher, and a winter “King tide” sent those waves right up onto the shore in many places. You might have seen news reports of damage to some coastal areas. While staying safe, we were able to get pretty close to the action on a drive between Santa Cruz and Half Moon bay, and we made quite a few photographs.

Most of the photographs were essentially seascapes — the watery equivalent of landscape images, featuring the shapes and colors and so on of the moving water. But as I made a series of photographs of this huge wave a line of pelicans flew through the frame, passing just above the raging surf.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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