Tag Archives: sun

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Rising Sun, Wildfire Smoke

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Rising Sun, Wildfire Smoke
Morning sun rising through a pall of wildfire smoke, east of the Sierra Nevada

Rising Sun, Wildfire Smoke. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning sun rising through a pall of wildfire smoke, east of the Sierra Nevada,

This was one of the most eerie days I have experienced in the Sierra. While it wasn’t the first of last time I’ve encountered the effects of wildfire there, this was quite different. The previous evening I had seen a bit of smoke far to the south, but didn’t think too much of it, as this was the wildfire season and such things aren’t unusual. I was camped in a deep east side valley that did not afford a distant view, so it wasn’t until I left that valley in the early morning and headed out on the east side fo the range that I saw what was happening.

I arrived at the junction of US 395 and Tioga Pass Road before dawn and found a high spot to photograph Mono Lake. It was immediately clear that a very active wildfire was building to the south and that the smoke was drifting north. It was still mostly clear above the lake, but not for long. Soon the smoke nearly obscured the view, though I continued photographing. I thought that heading north might get me away from the smoke, but now it was spreading fast and I couldn’t escape it. I made a few photographs from a high location that featured the smoke-filled Mono Basin, and then I started toward the southern Sierra. Passing again by Mono Lake I encountered some of the thickest wildfire smoke I have seen. This photograph was made under that pall, which was so dark that it barely seemed like twilight and the light of the sun was almost blocked.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Netherlands, Photographs: Travel

Canal, Cloudy Sky

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Canal, Cloudy Sky
The sun shines through cloudy skies to light up an Amsterdam canal and nearby buildings

Canal, Cloudy Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The sun shines through cloudy skies to light up an Amsterdam canal and nearby buildings

I don’t think the sky was ever entirely clear during our four days in Amsterdam, but I was told by locals that this is pretty typical. In fact, based on what I was told, we were perhaps lucky to have as much blue sky as we did get! It rained the day we arrived, it was cloudy on most days, and that first day wasn’t the only rainy one.

I’ve observed that sunlight is often even more beautiful in places where it can’t be take for granted. I first understood this some years ago on a visit to Seattle, a place that is frequently also cloudy, wet, and gray. On the visit in question there was a period of beautiful, eighty-degree days of sunshine… and it seemed like every person in Seattle was suddenly outside. This day in Amsterdam wasn’t quite that extraordinary, but the filtered sunlight on the row of buildings along this canal seemed quite attractive.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes, Sunrise

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Cranes, Sunrise
Cranes fly above sun rising though fog and haze

Cranes, Sunrise. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cranes fly above sun rising though fog and haze

The past few weeks have not been kind to California, with yet another very dry fall leading to some extraordinarily serious late-season wildfires. In particular, the historic and tragic toll of the “Camp Fire” is on our minds. In addition to those in the area directly affected by the fire, many Californians who live elsewhere in the state have friends who lost their homes and worse. And all across the state unhealthy levels of smoke have affected millions of Californians. (As I write this, we are finally getting our first real weather front of the season and the smoke levels are diminishing a bit.)

I have long pondered how to deal with these conditions photographically. Some years ago I realized that managed fires are a good thing for our environment (and even help reduce the likelihood of first like we recently experienced), but it has still been a challenge to find ways to make “beautiful” photographs of such things. I recently made this photograph on a morning when the air was still thick with this smoke, combined with fog, almost completely muting the light of the rising sun.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
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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: Wildlife

Toward Morning Light

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Toward Morning Light
A flock of sandhill cranes flies toward the morning light

Toward Morning Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A flock of sandhill cranes flies toward the morning light

This group of sandhill cranes was flying almost into the early morning sun — it was actually just enough to one side to illuminate the side of the birds that was facing me. As the cranes came toward my position I was ready, and I tracked them as they crossed from left to right, repositioning themselves as they passed by.

Sandhill cranes hold a special place for me, and they did even before I had seen or heard them. Many years ago as  college student, an enlightened science professor assigned us to read sections of Aldo Leopold’s “Sand County Almanac.” Leopold was completely new to me at the time — my vocabulary of “nature” writers was more orientated to the Sierra Nevada. But his descriptions of the cranes and the experience of seeing them stuck with me, and perhaps made the experience more magical when I finally saw them many years later.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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