Tag Archives: sky

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

Birds Before Dawn

December 19, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of small birds rises into pre-dawn sky about San Joaquin Valley wetlands

This was a long day with lots of driving. In the evening I would be in Oakhurst, in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Yosemite, where I planned to attend the reception for “AVIAN: Birds In A Changing Landscape,” an exhibit of art related to the lives of birds in California. (Two of my photographs are in the show, and it runs through January 14 at Gallery Five.) But before going to Oakhurst I figured I would start my day by visiting the San Joaquin Valley wetlands, the environment where the birds actually live.

After a two-hour drive I arrived a half hour or so before dawn. I grabbed a quick cup of coffee from my thermos, put the big lens on my camera, and turned my attention to the surrounding bird-filled landscape. Within moments I was stunned to see something new to me — an absolutely huge flock of very small birds rose in the distance. My best guess is that they may have been tai-color blackbirds, but the numbers were far beyond anything I had seen here before. The light was too low and they were too far away to make an effective photograph, but before long a very small fraction of the flock came across this section of the wetlands closer to my location, and I was able to photograph them against the pre-dawn sky.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Pond, Trees, Sky

December 14, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Colorful trees arranged around San Joaquin Valley wetlands under autumn sky with clearing fog

When I have written about some of the previous photographs of these San Joaquin Valley areas, where I go to photograph birds in the late fall and winter, I have described the cycle of my earlier mornings in such places: awake hours before sunrise, a two-hour drive in the dark, frequent arrival in thick tule fog, the first sound of birds after I stop my car and get out, the sensations related to photographing in the cold and foggy morning, the first light, sunrise. This photograph comes from a bit later in the morning, closer to the time when the rapidly changing early morning conditions stabilize and things begin to seem more static.

On this morning there had been some of the usual tule fog at daybreak. I photographed in those conditions for the first hour or two, but by 8:00 the fog was mostly gone and all that remained of it was the common Central Valley winter haze. Above that was the huge expanse of sky that I’m often aware of here — sky stretching unbroken from the low hills in the west to the distance Sierra Nevada crest far to the east. By this time the birds were generally much less active and the quick pace of the sunrise hours gave way to the slow, still quality of the midday hours.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Trees, Tarn, Mountains

November 8, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late afternoon skies darken above alpine peaks and a meadow holding a small reflecting tarn

No, I’m still not finished with the photographs from our nine-day photographic sojourn into the John Muir Wilderness, on which a group of us base camped in a stunning backcountry location and wandered off daily to photograph the area. Today, on a morning that is the first one of the season to feel winter-like here, it seems both odd and pleasant to think back on these summer days of photography, friends, sun, thunder showers, green meadows and flowers, cross-country hikes into high places, and more.

This meadow and its tarn were located perhaps 10-15 minutes above the location of our camp, and once we “discovered” the place we visited almost daily. It was a stunning place, filled with green meadow plants and wildflowers and surrounded by alpine scenery. The mountains to our south were a daily presence as they rose on the other side of a deep river canyon, and I had wanted to photograph this small tarn since I first saw it. That became my focus on this visit, and this photograph is one of several in which I tried to combine the meadow, tarn, small trees, and the distant view.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Evening, Wildfire Smoke, Tomales Bay

October 18, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Wildfire smoke from northern California wildfires colors the evening sky at upper Tomales Bay

In what is perhaps an example of astonishingly bad timing, we were in the region just north of San Francisco for the past few days — near the areas afflicted by the terrible wildfires that have taken lives, destroyed property, and burned over huge swathes of wild land and agricultural areas. The scope of the damage is virtually unprecedented in California, and the events are not yet over as I write this. We were in Petaluma on Friday and most of Saturday, where Patty was to participate in a long-planned wedding of one of her former oboe students. The fires were close enough to Petaluma that breathing masks were provided to those attending the wedding, and at times ash fell from the sky like very light snow flurries.

On Saturday we moved closer to Point Reyes National Seashore. Our original plan had been to spend a couple of days photographing there, but the conditions were not conducive to photography for the most part. We visited the Seashore on Sunday, but the smoke and the naturally brown October conditions, combined with a complete lack of moody for or other clouds left us a bit uninspired. We found a few things to photograph, but we finally decided to just drive north up that coast a ways. We got just past Jenner, where the smoke become even thicker — and we turned around. The smoke was not the only evidence of the fires. Signs were up everywhere — restaurants and similar places — with announcements of fund-raisers, requests for donation, notes from people looking for a place to stay. It was also clear the folks from inland had headed out toward the ocean to try to escape the fires. We left Jenner and headed back toward our lodgings in the Point Reyes area, and just at sunset we arrived at upper Tomales Bay. It was quiet and still as we stopped at a high point from which we could look out over the bay and north toward its mouth. It was still smokey, but here the smoke merely softened the features of the landscape and added color to the sky and the reflecting water.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sky

Birds Before Dawn

Pond, Trees, Sky

Trees, Tarn, Mountains

Evening, Wildfire Smoke, Tomales Bay

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.