Tag Archives: sky

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Ross’s Geese in Flight

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Ross's Geese in Flight
“Ross’s Geese in Flight” — Ross’s geese descend toward a wetland pond.

On our return trip from Death Valley in late February we took a short detour in California’s Central Valley to look for migratory geese. Their winter visit to the state is soon coming to an end, so I wanted to see them again this season. It was a quick stop, but we found our geese, and I made this photograph of a small flock of Ross’s geese descending toward a wetland pond.

when I first started photographing birds a couple of decades ago I had little idea what I was doing, but I did know that I wanted to photograph “snow geese.” (Ross’s geese aren’t snow geese, but they are very similar.) The photograph illustrates how much pictures of flocks of birds rely on luck. Note the two geese at lower right, positioned so that one does not obscure the view of the other’s head. Look at the positions of the two more distant geese behind the bird at lower left. And then note the the other four birds are also all positioned so that their heads are visible. You would almost think that they posed for me…

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Panamint Sky

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Panamint Sky
“Panamint Sky” — Morning winter sky above the Panamint Range and Lake Manly.

Lake Manly, the ephemeral lake that appears in Death Valley’s Badwater Basin in unusually wet seasons, is gradually shrinking once again. It was very large in early 2025, and again quite large early this year. It is starting to dry out and it will likely begone soon. For now though, it is still impressive, especially if you stand at its edge early in the morning, and doubly so when clouds fill the sky.

I chose black and white for this photograph of the lake because monochromegives me a great deal of interpretive freedom, in many way s more so than with color. As a starting point, black and white never can claim to be an accurate representation of the world of colors, and this frees us from notions that a photograph must always aspire to look like what we saw. In this case, monochrome allows me to draw attention to this remarkable winter desert sky.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Blue Hour Sky, Lake Manly

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Blue Hour Sky, Lake Manly
“Blue Hour Sky, Lake Manly” — A cloud-filled blue hour morning sky above Lake Manly.

When I go out to photograph I often have ideas about what my subject will be and even how it may look. On this morning I was thinking of colorful dawn light, perhaps illuminating some early morning clouds, and the first direct light striking the peaks of the distant Panamint Range mountains. Instead, the cloud deck was thicker than expected, and instead of sunrise colors I had something more like morning blue hour light.

When photographing landscape, there is a lot that is out of our control — the light, the clouds, and more. We have to be ready to work with the conditions that we are given. So on this morning I decided to “go with the blue” rather than hoping for warm colors that were not going to appear.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Evening Road, Death Valley

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Evening Road, Death Valley
“Evening Road, Death Valley” — A gravel road descends toward desert playa under evening skies, Death Valley

Sights like this become familiar if you spend much time exploring Death Valley National Park — a deserted gravel track heading off into the arid landscape with hills in the distance. There are variations: a narrow track following a streamed winding between high walls, a road crossing high desert mountains, and others. This particular example is not all that isolated — though it doesn’t get a lot of visitors.

It was late in the day and we had hurried back down into the Valley in hopes of low-angle sunlight on the terrain between the road and the far hills. That did not happen, and the light was somewhat flat. But the same clouds that blocked the late-day sun also filled the sky above the desert terrain in this photograph.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.