Tag Archives: sunrise

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Dawn Clouds, Sacramento Valley

January 9, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn clouds above the winter landscape of the Sacramento Valley

I have been meaning to visit some new locations for California Central Valley winter photography of migratory birds and of this huge place. I love my familiar stomping grounds in an area closer to where I live, but I keep hearing reports of locations further north along the Pacific Flyway. I decided that this is the winter to begin that wider exploration. Some of the locations I have in mind are far enough away that they will require overnight stays, but this one is (just barely!) within range for a day trip. A very long day trip.

Up many (almost four) hours before dawn, I quickly filled a thermos with coffee, made a sandwich, grabbed quick breakfast, loaded the car, and hit the road. I drove east and north out of the San Francisco Bay Area in darkness, and eventually was heading north up the Sacramento Valley on I-5, still in the dark. I had in mind an area a good distance up the Valley where there are many wildlife refuges and lots of water… and, as a result, the potential to find lots of migratory birds. It is a bit of an adventure trying to locate some of the reserves in the dark, particularly if you haven’t been to them before, but I found the first one as the sky was beginning to lighten and I drove before dawn. At this point the next morning ritual is always to stop the car, put on the warm clothes, unload the camera gear, and get everything set up. I headed out into the grounds of the refuge just as the first light was hitting the precursor clouds of an incoming Pacific weather system high above the valley, and this is literally my first photograph of the day.

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

Dawn, New Year’s Day 2016

January 3, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Geese in flight above a rural San Joaquin Valley road at dawn, New Year’s Day 2016

A few years back a group of friends decided to meet at dawn on New Year’s Day. We arrived at a place out in the San Joaquin Valley that is mostly populated by migratory birds this time of year, and we greeted the first sunrise of the new year with friends — a few human friends and a few tens of thousands of geese and other birds. We repeated the event the following year, and it has now become a traditions. Today we can’t think of a better way to start a new year, and once again we assembled there on New Year’s Day 2016.

We arrived to find the place strangely quiet. Typically we expect to hear thousands of birds all around us, but we figured out that they had moved off to nearby ponds. A few of us headed that way and eventually others followed, and we found a decent group of geese settled in on the shallow water. As the sun rose thousands more geese began to fly in, and before long the ponds were filled with them. Inevitably, something causes them to suddenly take to the air and before long that is exactly what happened. The flock noisily took flight, made a few loops over the pond, and then headed north over the rural roadway, silhouetted against sunrise sky.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands Dawn, Sierra Crest

December 14, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The peaks of the High Sierra rise beyond San Joaquin Valley wetlands on an autumn morning

In the late fall and winter, California’s Great Central Valley manages to provide some of the most diverse and beautiful effects of light and atmosphere that I know of. In a way this is ironic, since most of us probably tend to think of the place as a fairly boring, flat, and drab bunch of agricultural land that is too often smoggy and hot and dry in the summer. But in the winter, especially if you get away from the drive-through freeways, there is a lot to see here. This is especially true in the wetlands areas, with their wildlife, trees, ponds and fogs.

I arrived before dawn on this early December morning and, to be honest, I was not initially overly hopeful about the sunrise prospects. In fact, moments before I arrived I had driven past beautiful pre-dawn reflections on nearby marshes and decided to keep going toward my destination, only to arrive and find much less striking light. Sometimes the most brilliant sunrise light can blind me to more subtle beauties, but on this morning I found a quiet spot overlooking water and trees, stopped, and just photographed the beginning of the day. In this photograph the wetlands trees are reflected in the water as they march away into the slightly foggy distance, a few sandhill cranes fly past, and in the distance the crest of the Sierra Nevada rises toward the sky.

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

Dawn Flight of White Pelicans

December 10, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A dawn flight of white pelicans above San Joaquin Valley wetlands

I’m going with a bit of mystery and mood in this photograph — I could probably lighten things if I wanted to, but I prefer the darker rendition. I made the photograph very early on a late-fall morning, when thin fog had settled above the wetlands and high clouds partially obscured the sky above the summit of the Sierra Nevada far to my east. As soon as there is any light the birds begin to take to the air. These very early moments are probably my favorite of almost any day in these wetlands.

This photograph and the series like it posed some interesting technical and aesthetic challenges. The general light level was quite low, especially with the thin fog, and because I was handholding a long lens I had to keep my ISO somewhat high. As the birds passed from left to right in front of me they passed from near obscurity in dark sky and fog through brilliant light as they crossed in front of clouds lit by the first light of the sun. I panned with the birds as I kept watch for landscape elements that might give some definition to a composition and kept an eye on the birds, waiting for a group to stretch out in a beautiful line and to pass in just the right area of illuminated sky.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sunrise

Dawn Clouds, Sacramento Valley

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Dawn, New Year’s Day 2016

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Wetlands Dawn, Sierra Crest

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Dawn Flight of White Pelicans

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.