Tag Archives: sky

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Eastern Sierra Morning

Image Leave a comment
Eastern Sierra Morning
Morning light on the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada under stormy skies.

Eastern Sierra Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada under stormy skies.

This photograph was made mere moments after another of the eastern Sierra Nevada escarpment that I shared recently. That photograph included the first, warm-tone light of the new day. This one comes after that initial golden hour light has left the highest peaks — though a bit of it remains in the lower foreground — and these formations are illuminated by somewhat harsher light. It was a remarkable morning, with conditions changing with extreme rapidity. The gently curving wave cloud in the previous photograph had, by the time I made this one, turned into a very dark layer beyond the crest.

There is another background story related to this series of photographs — a story that is partly about photography and partly about learning to know places. I first went to this location quite a long time ago, almost by accident the first time. Intrigued, I returned frequently when I had a moment, and as a result I saw the place in rather varied conditions. I began to get a sense not only of what I actually saw, but also of how this landscape might respond to conditions that I did not encounter. Eventually this served me well, and more than once I’ve aborted other photographic plans to go to this spot based on nothing more than a hunch about what the conditions might be like.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Two Poles, Three Doors

Image Leave a comment
Two Poles, Three Doors
Two unility poles in front of an abandoned industrial. building with three doors.

Two Poles, Three Doors. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two utility poles in front of an abandoned industrial. building with three doors.

This is another take on a subject that I posted about recently while sharing a portrait-orientation image of much the same scene. Keeping in mind that photographs posted here are often part of my “working out” process with images, trying out different ways of seeing them, here’s a bit of my thinking. In the previous version I chose the alternate orientation in order to include more of that sky (a reference to my landscape photography?) and the full height of the utility poles. This time I left only a sliver of the sky, and you have to imagine how tall the poles are. (That’s an important visual concept about which I could write an article, by the way.) So here, I think, we see the geometries of the structure, the poles, and the slanting shadows more prominently.

In that earlier post I wrote something that wasn’t completely accurate regarding the building. I pointed out accurately that it is in a former produce canning area and that it is no longer part of that industry, but I also stated that it is “abandoned.” Technically, it _was_ abandoned, but it appears that the building is now being used as some sort of warehouse or storage area. Of course, you would not see that from the outside where I was, as there are no commercial markings at all — which is a very unusual thing in this country.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

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

Two Cranes in Flight

Image Leave a comment
Two Cranes in Flight
Two sandhill cranes fly in close formation.

Two Cranes in Flight. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two sandhill cranes fly in close formation.

Since I now have a group of sandhill crane photographs in process it looks like I’ll be continuing to share this subject over the next week or so, mixed in with some other subjects that I’m working on at the same time. These wildlife photographs come from my winter visits to the Pacific Flyway to see geese, cranes, herons, egrets and lots of other seasonal visitors to California.

I’m certainly repeating myself when I write that sandhill cranes have perhaps become my favorite birds among those I photograph. For some reason, perhaps some passages in Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac” that I read decades ago, these birds have fascinated me since I first saw them. Unlike the geese that first attracted me to winter bird photography, cranes tend to be found (at least in these parts) in smaller groups. Where migratory geese are often found in groups of thousands, cranes are more typically in groups which, at their largest, may be in the hundreds, and which may often be as small as a couple of birds, as in this photograph.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Approaching Cranes

Image Leave a comment
Approaching Cranes
A group of sandhill cranes approaches on a winter morning along the Pacific Flyway.

Approaching Cranes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of sandhill cranes approaches on a winter morning along the Pacific Flyway.

For the next week or so I expect to indulge my fascination with sandhill cranes as I continue to dig back into photographs from the final day photographing them during this past winter season. Of course, when I’m photographing these birds I am usually also photographing others… and photographing the landscapes in which they are found. So expect come geese and who knows what else along with some winter landscapes from the wetland and agricultural regions where I find these beautiful birds.

Quite a few of my photographs of these cranes tend to are in profile, perhaps as they line up in the wetlands in the early morning, or as they fly past me during the fly-in and fly-out times. There are several reasons for this, but one is that cranes that fly toward humans often divert at the last minute — they seem particularly wary of flying right over us. Often I have figured out the place where cranes were crossing the landscape, gone there to wait for them, and noticed them immediately readjusting their flight path to avoid the spot. This group was more cooperative than most. I stopped and waited during the morning fly-out, and eventually this group headed straight toward me in the early light before diverging at the last moment just a bit to pass on my right.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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