Tag Archives: snow

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Desert Mountains, Morning Storm

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Desert Mountains, Morning Storm
A morning storm drops snow and rain on desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains, Morning Storm. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A morning storm drops snow and rain on desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

In addition to being an example of beautiful morning light, this photograph is a reminder about an important principle of landscape photography. I’ll get to that point in a moment. I made the photograph on our final morning in Death Valley before packing and starting home. Things didn’t look promising when I got up before dawn — it was overcast and there was a small chance of rain. I headed out into the Valley to photograph where, indeed, it was cloudy and I did get rained on. But for a brief moment this beautiful light appeared over distant mountains.

The landscape photography principle? There might be more than one, now that I think about it. The first is that if something special happens and you are not out there, you aren’t going to photograph it. So even on days when the prospects seem unpromising, you go. It helps to remember that not all days are astonishingly beautiful, and you’ll have to deal with the less-amazing days if you expect to be there for the miracles of light. Another principle? The most interesting light often arrives in the least promising situations — for example, on a gray, cloudy morning when beams of light unexpectedly break through a gap in the clouds and light up desert peaks against that dark, dramatic background.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Desert Mountains, Clearing Storm

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Desert Mountains, Clearing Storm
An early-spring mountain snow storm clears from desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains, Clearing Storm. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

An early-spring mountain snow storm clears from desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

This photograph comes from a morning in Death Valley when the light, for the most part, was singularly uninspiring. I knew it would be cloudy from the weather forecast, and when I went out before dawn there was just enough light to confirm this. But it was the last morning in the valley, and I was determined to at least see if anything would crop up. I loaded up and walked into sand dunes… where the light remained resolutely gray, the skies overcast, and it even rained a bit. But sometimes a break in awful light can produce glorious light…

… which is precisely what happened for a few moments as the light from the rising sun found some holes in the clouds and illuminated the summit of desert mountains, where the remnants of a passing storm were still dropping snow and rain. It was a reminder that going out on the unlikely days can sometimes produce something wonderful!

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

Late Winter Flocks

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Late Winter Flocks
Huge numbers of sandhill cranes and several varieties of migratory geese in late winter.

Late Winter Flocks. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Huge numbers of sandhill cranes and several varieties of migratory geese in late winter.

Yes, another “sky full of birds” photograph! It may seem that I”m sharing a lot of them… but it is not anywhere near all of them. And that, of course, brings up one of the great “secrets” of photographing birds: for every good image that “works” there are dozens of others that never see the light of day. Landscapes don’t move (much), so they are more predictable. But most of the time birds are in motion — at least when they are doing interesting things — and it is impossible to control or predict everything that will happen. You can improve your odds over time… but there is still an element of chance..

These fields were full of late season birds — mostly various kinds of geese, but also lots of sandhill cranes and even a few egrets here and there. At this time of year — just before the long migration back to the north — they seem to become extremely active. At the least provocation huge numbers of birds will suddenly and noisily take to the air and circle before finally returning to the field for a while… and then repeating the process a bit later.

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

Geese, Before Sunrise

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Geese, Before Sunrise
Migratory geese in pre-sunrise sky about the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada crest.

Geese, Before Sunrise. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Migratory geese in pre-sunrise sky above the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada crest.

On these days photographing migratory birds I arrive in darkness thirty to forty-five minutes before dawn. After driving several hours in the dark, the first thing I do is get out of the car. The first impression I always have is the sound of the birds as they get ready for morning fly-out. It is a wild, raucous thing and it always makes me smile. Before long more and more of the birds take to the air as the first light arrives. The birds flying across this brilliant early morning sky are geese.

This photograph would not have been possible on most days photographing in California’s Great Central Valley, and it depended on a particular conjunction of weather conditions. On the foggy days when I prefer to visit, of course, none of this would have been visible at all. On other clearer days the sky color is much more muted. On this visit a thin dome of clouds covered much of the sky, stretching far to the east beyond the crest of the Sierra Nevada. The first dawn light lit these clouds in a display of intense color.

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.