Tag Archives: sky

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese, Dark Sky

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Geese, Dark Sky
Geese in flight against a dark autumn sky above California’s Central Valley.

Geese, Dark Sky. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Geese in flight against a dark autumn sky above California’s Central Valley.

What visit to the country of winter migratory birds would not be complete without at least one photograph simply of birds filling the sky? These are most likely Ross’s geese — though it is a little hard to say for sure at this distance. As they do numerous times each day, they lifted off en masse when something disturbed them, flew in ever-widening circles for a few minutes, found a new spot, and settle back down on the ground. During that time the sky was filled with a swirling mass of geese.

The conditions at this moment were just right for a darker sky than usual. It was a foggy morning. Earlier the fog had been thick enough to make driving dangerous and bird photography almost impossible. But now, a few hours later, the fog was lifting and opening up the visibility near the ground.

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: Nature

Pond, Clearing Fog

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Tule fog begins to clear above a Central Valley pond on a late-autumn morning.

Pond, Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Tule fog thins above a Central Valley pond on a late-autumn morning.

The core of my landscape photography follows a pattern linked to the seasons — no surprise, I suppose, since the landscape is so profoundly affected by seasonal changes. Every year at this time my attention turns to California’s Great Central Valley, where the combination of migratory birds, tule fog, and its minimal landscape become my focus. I finally made it out there this week for the first time this season.

I suppose “normal people” would avoid this area on a day like this. Objectively speaking, this thick fog is not conducive to travel, and those who live there get tired of days and weeks of the cold and damp. But these conditions turn a landscape that can be a bit pedestrian into something mysterious and atmospheric. When I arrived before dawn the fog was so thick that I couldn’t see more than perhaps a hundred feet. But shortly after sunrise the fog began to drift and thin, faint windows opened in the sky above, and soft light began to subtly illuminate the landscape.

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 | Twitter | 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.

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

Pacific Ocean, Big Sur

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Pacific Ocean, Big Sur
Looking west across the Pacific Ocean from the Big Sur mountains on a quiet autumn day.

Pacific Ocean, Big Sur. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Looking west across the Pacific Ocean from the Big Sur mountains on a quiet autumn day.

Views like this never fail to make me pause. There’s something about an expanse of “empty” earth, whether liquid or solid, that focuses the attention. It could be standing at the Arctic Circle and looking north (which I’e done only once), viewing expansive desert terrain from a mountain ridge, or looking across the ocean toward the distant horizon from a high viewpoint. I’m not sure I can articulate the attraction precisely, but it includes the immense space, the absence of obvious human presence, and the encounter with deep time in a place that has probably looked like this for what seems like forever.

Perhaps ironically, this particular view is from a spot along the Pacific Coast Highway that can be crowded ruing the high tourist season. However, on this late-autumn weekday morning there was almost no one else around, and I shared this spot with a single cyclist who had stopped for a snack at the top of the climb.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Lake and Sky, New Hampshire

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Lake and Sky, New Hampshire
“Lake and Sky, New HampshireWater lilies, reflected sky, and autumn colors at a New Hampshire Lake.

You may have seen a different version of this scene rendered in black and white — I posted it not long after our return from photographing New England fall color this year. During the first days of our visit we photographed in the iconic Kancamagus Highway region between Concord and Lincoln — and it was, as predicted, quite spectacular… and quite crowded. But then we explored a bit more widely, and we stopped to photograph this lake on a long loop that took us much farther north in New Hampshire.

There’s one other semi-notably thing about this photograph — I made it on an iPhone 14. I’m not giving up my Big Boy Cameras any time soon, but on this trip I played around with using the iPhone to capture some subjects — quick panoramas, record shots, photographs after dark. In a few cases, in addition to setting up the big camera and tripod, I put the iPhone in raw-capture mode and made a few photographs just to see what it could do. The answer? Quite a bit!

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

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