Tag Archives: shine

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Wetlands, Clearing Fog

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Winter Wetlands, Clearing Fog
“Winter Wetlands, Clearing Fog” — Winter tule fog clears and the sun begins to shine on Central Valley wetlands.

This “quiet photograph” of winter wetlands, clearing fog, and bits of sparse vegetation is as evocative of the experience of such places as those featuring flocks of birds and winter sunrises and sunsets. The latter are remarkable and compelling features of this landscape largely because they are exceptional. Most of the time these places are quiet and still, and never more so than on a foggy morning.

Fascinating transitions of light occur as tule fog clears. The day begins in muted, gray, even oppressive darkness, with visibility measured in feet. Because tule fog is shallow it often becomes luminous as the sun begins to rise. Then, here and there, it begins to thin and break up, and soft directional light appears. Then the blue sky becomes more clearly visible, more distant features being to appear, and remnant clouds float above the landscape, and soon it is day.

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: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese and Sun in Fog

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Geese and Sun in Fog
Geese and Sun in Fog

Geese and Sun in Fog. Central Valley, California. December 11, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small flock of Ross’s geese passes by the sun as it barely shines through dense Central Valley tule fog

Although photographing birds and the landscapes where they are found on a dense fog day might seem like a challenge or perhaps even a disappointment, for me it turns out that the fog makes things much more interesting. While I love seeing and photographing the migratory birds as the warm dawn light hits them, that is usually over fairly quickly. But with fog there are all kinds of interesting mysteries to explore. Birds appear on the edge of visibility, and often you may hear them but not see them. (This was especially true with sandhill cranes on this day. We often heard them, but never caught more than a faint and momentary visual sighting as they briefly emerged partially from the fog as they flew directly overhead.) The atmosphere can glow as the sun tries to push through the shallow tule fog.

At one point during this foggy morning a breeze came up and for a moment it looked like the fog might clear. It became a bit less opaque near the ground and there were occasional hints of potential light as the fog momentarily thinned. The disk of the sun became faintly visible, though it often quickly faded again from sight. When I first saw the sun I thought that since birds were flying overhead from time to time that if I was patient I just might be able to get a photograph of some of them in the fog with the faint sun behind them. You can only “plan” a photograph like this in the most general sense: the amount of fog, its thickening and thinning, and the appearance and formation of the birds are entirely out of the photographer’s control. So I wait and watch… and make a number of photographs.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.