Tag Archives: shallow

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Half Submerged

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Half Submerged
“Half Submerged” — The salt playa of Death Valley partially submerged under the shallow waters of Manly Lake.

Part of what I love about this subject is how hard it is initially to understand exactly what we are looking at. (I wonder what you thought it was at first?) My first impression, at least when looking at small versions, is of sky and clouds. It is only when I look more closely that I realize that it is not that at all — it is the playa of Death Valley, where salt flats are partially submerged beneath the water of Lake Manly.

We usually direct our eyes parallel to the ground or perhaps upwards when we view the landscape. But on those occasions when we can look down at it from a distance we see it in a very different light. Features that are barely, if at all, visible from down below become the major points of interest. (There’s a lot more to see in this scene than first meets the eye.) And all of this is enhanced by the subjective feelings that come with looking out from any very high vantage point.

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

Sandhill Cranes, Wetland Pond

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Sandhill Cranes, Wetland Pond
“Sandhill Cranes, Wetland Pond” — A small group of lesser sandhill cranes stands in the shallow water of a wetland pond.

Sandhill cranes were the main reason that I went to the Central Valley on this winter morning. My plan was to be there before dawn — and I was! — so that I could photograph them taking flight in luminous fog at sunrise. But the fog over-achieved, and was so thick at sunrise that the birds weren’t visible at all. At that point the fog itself become my dawn subject.

As the morning wore on the fog thinned, and eventually the cranes and other birds became visible. I found a large group in a shallow pond where they had spent the night. One of the challenges of photographing groups of these birds is that much of the time their heads are down as they groom themselves or reach for the water. So I watch and wait, hoping for that instant when a few —or all! — of them raise their heads at once.

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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Commentary, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands, Dawn Light and Fog

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Wetlands, Dawn Light and Fog
Shallow fog diffuses the morning light in Central Valley wetlands.

Happy New Year’s Day 2024! When this post appears on January 1, I’ll be in the field to greet the literal dawn of the new year with friends, fellow photographers, and few thousand migratory birds. With luck, it may be a morning like the one in the photograph, with beautiful soft light, a bit of fog, sunrise colors, and lots of wildlife all around. I hope that your new year begins as well!

This photograph comes from dawn on a December morning when I visited wetlands. My main goal was to photograph birds, but somehow I almost always end up photographing landscapes in such places. I arrived to some of my favorite conditions: the glow of pre-dawn light, thick fog, chilly air, and the sound of thousands of birds all around me.

Note: I’m starting the new year with a few changes at my website, including the new, simplified format for posted photographs and streamlined text. Since this is something of an experiment, don’t be surprised if I continue to make changes for a while.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Moving Water

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Moving Water
A small wave crosses kelp and sand in shallow water at the Pacific Ocean shoreline.

Moving Water. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A small wave crosses kelp and sand in shallow water at the Pacific Ocean shoreline.

This is the second of a pair of somewhat abstract water photographs I made on a quick visit to the California coast last week. I just had a few hours, so I went up the coast from Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay, then over the coast range and returned to Silicon Valley. It was an “extremely typical” day in this part of the world, by which I mean that the conditions were “typical” (cool and foggy) for this time of the year, but even more so to the point that I encountered coastal drizzle heavy enough to feel like rain.

I paused at one overlook high above the Pacific, hoping to photograph pelicans that often coast past on updrafts from the incoming ocean winds. I just missed oen flock as I arrived, but I quickly attached the long lens and… waited… for the next flock… which never showed up. Since I had that lens on the camera I decided to point down rather than up and photograph the shallow water at the edge of the ocean far below.

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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