Tag Archives: silhouette

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Old Tree in Winter

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Old Tree in Winter
An old and gnarled tree, leafless near the end of winter.

Old Tree in Winter. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old and gnarled tree, leafless near the end of winter.

Having a large archive of photographs that are sorted and filed by date proves useful in lots of ways. For example, this past week I wanted to remind myself of the likely conditions of a particular subject I intend to photograph soon, and by looking back a few years I was able to get a pretty good fix on the timing of a pretty significant annual change affecting this subject. It also proves useful for non-photographic purposes… such as remembering how our world was starting to close down in March of 2020 and how we responded to it.

This photograph comes from near the beginning of March last year, at a time when we were well aware that danger was on the horizon, but when we had not yet fully responded as a society. (That was about to happen, and I should be able to share some photographs that remind me of that threshold in the next few weeks.) On this day I recall pausing beneath this sprawling wetland tree and appreciating the layers of curves and various sized branches leading upward toward an extremely bright late-winter sky.

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

Forest and Fog

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Forest and Fog
Sunlight begins to thin the morning fog in a Monterey Peninsula forest.

Forest and Fog. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunlight begins to thin the morning fog in a Monterey Peninsula forest.

Today we visit the California coast below the Monterey Peninsula, at the Point Lobos State Reserve. (That is the actual name, though many of us casually refer to it as a state “park.”) I have gone to this place for decades, since my parents took us there as kids. Back then the big attractions were the tide pools (the number one attraction!), the various sea mammals, and the surf. Those are still on my list when I go there, though now I’m more likely to go with the goal of making photographs. (The place, like so much of the Big Sur coast, has become almost impossibly popular, so I try to visit at odd, off-peak times.)

I had gone down there on this 2013 early spring day to make photographs. My typical routine is to arrive very early, before those crowds show up, and spend a few hours photographing in relative quiet. This time I headed to a location in the more northerly portion of the small preserve, where there are views back across the coastal forests and toward the low hills to the east. Because it was morning, the sun was coming over those hills just as the fog was starting to then, allowing a bit more light into the gaps between the trees.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Trees, Fog

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Winter Trees, Fog
Tule fog surrounds a stand of. barren winter trees, Central Valley.

Winter Trees, Fog. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tule fog surrounds a stand of. barren winter trees, Central Valley.

Something tells me that California Central Valley residents might disagree with me when I say that the winter tule fogs are among the biggest attractions of the region. I understand that days (or weeks!) of the gray can be depressing, and I’ve heard the stories about traffic accidents in zero-visibility fog. It is wet. It s cold. You can’t see through it. It interferes with travel.

But I love the mystery that the tule fog brings to this area. On clear summer days this is a broad, flat landscape that is largely agricultural. That has the potential to give it a bucolic quality, but the nature of modern Central Valley agriculture is that it also borders on an industrial process. But when the fog rises the world shrinks down to a radius that might be measured in yards rather than miles, more distant distractions disappear, details are muted, and the shallow but thick layer of fog glows luminously on a winter morning.

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

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: San Francisco

Bay Reflections, Morning

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Bay Reflections, Morning
Bronze morning light reflects on the surface of San Francisco Bay and silhouettes Alcatraz and Treasure Islands.

Bay Reflections, Morning. © Copyright 2013 Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bronze morning light reflects on the surface of San Francisco Bay and silhouettes Alcatraz and Treasure Islands.

Happy New Year! Let’s start 2021 with a sunrise. 2020 was a year we all want to put behind us as soon as possible — to move on as a country, to get through the worst of this pandemic and see vaccines take effect, to travel again, to see friends and relatives in person, to eat out and go to concerts and, all in all, perhaps find a bit of normalcy once again. So, perhaps the best wish is: Happier New Year!

The photograph is of San Francisco Bay, photographed not long after sunrise on a very early spring morning a few years ago. The conditions were a bit unusual — prevalent thin fog rather than the more typical strands of the stuff. I photographed directly toward the rising sun, capturing the metallic colors and textures of the Bay waters along with Alcatraz Island, Treasure Island, and the far shores of the East Bay.

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 | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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