Tag Archives: trees

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek

January 11, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Light autumn snow falls on peaks above aspen groves along the South Fork of Bishop Creek

This is a photograph from a wonderful, short trip into the eastern Sierra about five years ago. I believe that I made two trips to the “east side” that fall to photograph aspens, and on this one (the first of the two) I had a couple of days of winter-like weather with clouds and snow. This could put a damper on photography… unless you share my fascination with “interesting” weather, in which case it seems like that best thing that could happen.

I came back from this trip with some very special photographs, mostly because I ran into conditions that were not quite so typical for Sierra autumn. The most typical Sierra day at this time of year starts cold but then becomes warm and sunny with the beautiful autumn light. I love those days, but I’ve seen enough of them to like some variety, too. And that’s what I got on this trip. On one morning it was so cloudy up high that I decided to drive down out of the range and shoot back up towards in the broken light of a stormy dawn. On this day I headed back up toward the high country and photographed aspen color against a backdrop of mountain peaks disappearing into snow showers.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Winter Geese, San Joaquin Valley Farm

January 9, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Flock of migratory winter geese circling above a San Joaquin Valley farm

Every winter California’s Great Central Valley becomes the home of astounding collections of migratory birds. (I’m still a bit surprised that folks from the state will travel great distances to other states to photograph some of the very same birds, when they are at their backdoor!) Historically the Central Valley (consisting of the Sacramento Valley to the north and the San Joaquin Valley to the south) supported even larger populations of birds, but as the area was developed for agriculture the majority of the wetlands were lost. However, places were set aside, and in many areas the agriculture areas become the homes of the birds in the winter.

We visited one of these protected areas late December, an area where I frequently photograph throughout the bird season. The photography in this area was good, but it still seemed like there were not as many (mostly) Ross’s geese as we would expect. We figured out why — huge numbers of them were settling in just outside the area where we usually find them, and across a nearby road on farmland. Here the flock of thousands of geese takes to the air above one of these Central Valley farms on this foggy morning.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Morning Frost, Fog, and Trees

January 2, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Foggy sunrise light on San Joaquin Valley trees and winter frost

This is quite literally a photograph of the dawn of 2015, made as the sun rose on January 1, 2015. A group of photographer friends has developed what seems to be becoming a tradition: meeting before dawn at a central California location to greet the first sunrise of the year, and then spending the day photographing wildlife and landscape, sharing lunch and stories, and generally having a great time. (This was the third New Year’s Day we have done this.) I suppose that an added benefit of this is that getting up at 4:00 AM on New Year’s Day means that staying up to midnight the night before is not an option!

This place is often very foggy at this time of year — the sort of fog that slows you down to a crawl as you drive along Central Valley back roads. It was supposed to be clear and cold on New Year’s Day. It certainly was cold — 23 degrees at one point. But although it was clear everywhere else, we still have fog in the early morning. We headed out to a spot where we thought the wildlife and sunrise light would be great and waited for dawn. Even though the spectacular sunrise was playing out to my east, I loved the way the light and fog and frost worked together on this scene to my north.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Evening Sky, San Joaquin Valley

January 2, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

In late December, as winter began, we spent a day photographing in our favorite area of the San Joaquin Valley, where we shoot migratory birds and the austere and often atmospheric landscape of the Central Valley. The primary excise for going there at this time of year is virtually always the birds: geese, ibises, sandhill cranes, herons, egrets, white pelicans, and many more. For most of the day this was our primary subject, starting in the thick early morning fog and continuing as it began to lift, and then later when we returned after lunch to find a bit more light getting through.

Very late in the day the bird action diminished — many of the geese were in nearby areas that are inaccessible to us, and other birds were either quieter or hidden in more distant locations. It seemed like the bird photography was winding down for the day. (Though there was a special surprise a bit later on.) At about this time, what had been a thick deck of fog and clouds began to break up to the west, and just before sunset the clouds thinned enough to let in some direct soft light which glowed luminously on the clouds and in the hazy atmosphere. Oh, about that surprise… A bit later it really seemed like the birds were unusually quiet and we pretty much stopped photographing them as the light began to fade. (Often we continue shooting until it is simply too dark to focus and make exposures.) The members of our group, who had been spread over several miles of this particular refuge, collected together near the exit to say goodbye… as cranes arrived, followed moments later by a deep dusk fly-in by thousands of geese who landed in near darkness on the pond next to where we were standing and watching.

Soft evening clouds above San Joaquin Valley wetlands

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: trees

Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek

Winter Geese, San Joaquin Valley Farm

Morning Frost, Fog, and Trees

Evening Sky, San Joaquin Valley

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