Tag Archives: swim

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Tree and Lake, Central Park

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Tree and Lake, Central Park
A goose swims past a solitary tree in a Central Park lake on a rainy day in Manhattan.

Tree and Lake, Central Park. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A goose swims past a solitary tree in a Central Park lake on a rainy day in Manhattan.

What you cannot “see” in this photograph is the sound of 58th Street traffic, along with all of the other nearby big city stimuli of Manhattan. This is a “landscape” photograph, of course, but the landscape is different than those I typically photograph in the American West. But on this rainy morning, when I escaped my hotel to walk and photograph for an hour or two, it presented a welcome slice of the natural world.

Those who know this park may wonder how I photographed it without any people, and even why I photographed it that way. As I walked along the near edge of this path, my view of this lake was unobstructed by anyone or anything besides a few branches. In a way, these little moments of silence and what passes here for solitude seem more precious given where they are found.

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: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Tule Fog

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White Pelicans, Tule Fog
A flock of white pelicans swims acroiss a webland pond blanketed by morning tule fog.

White Pelicans, Tule Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A flock of white pelicans swims acroiss a webland pond blanketed by morning tule fog.

When I began photographing before dawn on this late-autumn morning, the fog was extremely thick. I could hear birds all around me, but I was barely able to see them and photographing them was initially out of the question. Gradually the fog began to drift a bit, and it thinned a bit in the light from the sun rising above the fog. Before long birds began to become visible, though I was still working at the borderline of sufficient light. It was at about this point that I caught sight of this line of white pelicans swimming slowly across a pond.

Every time I encounter these birds I think back to the first time I saw them. I had seen and photographed the coastal brown pelicans for years, but somehow I did not realize that white pelicans were in California! On a morning like this one I photographed some white birds that were barely visible in the fog… and misidentified them as geese or similar. Later, looking closely at the photographs, it hit me that these were very strange-looking geese, indeed! It was only at that point that I even realized that there were white pelicans here!

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.

Commentary, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Pond

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White Pelicans, Pond
A row of white pelicans swims sedately in clearing morning fog

White Pelicans, Pond. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A row of white pelicans swims sedately in clearing morning fog.

White pelicans seem to keep to themselves at the locations where I photograph birds. I’ve gotten to know a few small groups here and there, and I’ve noticed a few things about them. During a season they seem to establish a “home base” and stick to it — and I can almost be certain to find them at the current year’s location. They stick together in groups of perhaps a few dozen, spending a lot of time clumped together near the water, seemingly doing next to nothing. In the morning they frequently fly out after many other birds have already done so. And because their groups are relatively small, these fly-outs happen quickly.

This group was a little ways from its usual spot on this day. They had swum — or perhaps more accurately, floated — across a large pond and eventually drifted quite close to me. Their passage was quiet and sedate, with little movement above the water line. Eventually they arrived at whatever point they had selected, and before long there were headed back the way they had come.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Ducks, Pond, Fog

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Ducks, Pond, Fog
Ducks, Pond, Fog

Ducks, Pond, Fog. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 25, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ducks settled in on a San Joaquin Valley pond on a foggy morning

Yet another foggy winter morning in the wetlands of California’s San Joaquin Valley. I had started photographing not too long before I made this photograph, though the beginning of the day was both foggy and nearly dark, with barely enough light to photograph. Working in the near darkness and thick fog, right through a sunrise that I could not see, is a mysterious experience. I could hear birds, but I could only barely make out a few of the closest animals though the murky atmosphere.

I moved on and eventually came to this flooded field — to my mind it is a pond, since I’m only in this place to see it in the wet winter season. Aside from an occasional noisy liftoff by one duck or a small group, the scene was very quiet and still. Occasionally a few geese or cranes flew over as the ducks fed silently, moving slowly across the water, and birds that were a bit farther away from me quickly faded into the fog, through which the faint shapes of trees on the other side of the pond were barely visible.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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