Tag Archives: usa

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

Great Blue Heron, Reflection

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Great Blue Heron, Reflection
A great blue heron on the hunt in a Central Valley pond.

Great Blue Heron, Reflection. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A great blue heron on the hunt in a Central Valley pond.

This photograph of a great blue heron comes from this season’s first visit to California’s Central Valley to photograph migratory and other birds. Such visits become a main part of my photography between December and March. The trigger for this early December trek to the Valley was a forecast of fog — and I love foggy days out in the Valley. (On the other hand, I sympathize with locals who get a bit tired of the tule fog when it sticks around for days or weeks.) While the bird populations weren’t exactly overwhelming on this visit — and the great light never quite arrived — it was great to be back in the field on this visit marking the start of a new season.

There is a tremendous variety of birds to photograph in this area. The large flocks of geese and cranes are an obvious attraction, but others have started to grow on me — the redwing and tricolor blackbirds, egrets, ibises, lots of LBBs (little brown birds) and these large and magnificent great blue herons. I almost always encounter them as solitary individuals — thought, oddly, it isn’t unusual to find them in the company of a solitary egret. That was the case with this one. It and its egret companion were busy hunting in the shallow waters of a pond. I stopped and remained in my vehicle to avoid scaring the birds, and eventually they moved quite close to me.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Water Plants

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Water Plants
Water plants and their reflections on a foggy late-winter day in California’s Central Valley.

Water Plants. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Water plants and their reflections on a foggy late-winter day in California’s Central Valley.

During the first week of December I finally made my first trip of the season to my favorite bird photography area in Central California. In autumn, all up and down the state, we start to see the arrival of the winter migratory birds, and I’ve become addicted to photographing them and the landscapes in which they appear. I would have gone a bit earlier this year, but I was waiting for the right combination of fog and driving conditions. Yes, I WANT fog. But, no, I don’t want it so thick that dangerous driving conditions are an impediment.

From my perspective, the best bird photograph days in these places start with fog that begins to thin by mid- to late-morning, allowing some filtered, directional light to appear. This was not that kind of day. It ended up being uniformly gray. There were interesting birds around, but not in the numbers that we’ll likely see later. For these and other reasons, by mid-morning I turned my attention mostly away from the birds and towards the landscape. During the early season, as the shallow ponds begin to refill, there is more of a feeling of autumn than winter, and lots of interesting plants still stand in the water. The plants in this picture might be of limited interest — they certainly are not prominent landscape features — but their reflections caught my attention.

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: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Waiting Man

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Waiting Man
A man stands at the curb with his head bowed, San Francisco.

Waiting Man. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man stands at the curb with his head bowed, San Francisco.

This photograph comes from a day spent doing street photography while walking through San Francisco… just a few short months before our world changed in early 2020 and such activities become difficult, if not impossible. I still photograph “street” a bit in the areas not far from where I live, but I haven’t been back to shoot this way in San Francisco since the “before times” — though I’m starting to imagine being able to do so once again. I did just a bit of this kind of photography when I spent a few days up there during our Open Studio event at a gallery in North Beach, though I’m still distracted by streets full of masked people.

I know that some people wonder why this “nature photographer” wanders off to photograph urban environments, and some are even perplexed by the photographs. There are lots of reasons for a landscape photographer to also be a street photographer. In some ways the genres are complementary, and doing one actually has the potential to improve the other. If nothing else, photographing street can remove the “I don’t have anything to photograph!” excuse, since there’s potentially something right outside your front door. In addition, for photographers who are often more comfortable photographing things than people, this work can be a way to stretch your boundaries.

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

Five Sandhill Cranes

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Five Sandhill Cranes
A chorus of five sandhill cranes in California’s Central Valley.

Five Sandhill Cranes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A chorus of five sandhill cranes in California’s Central Valley.

I have seen a lot of sandhill cranes, but the group behavior seen here was new to me — the entire quintet raising their heads and displaying open beaks. I’m endlessly fascinated by the things that the birds and others do, and I’m often mystified by the purposes of these actions. In fairness, they may also be mystified by people showing up nearby, standing around with large metal and glass objects, and pointing them in their direction.

It is a bit unusual to get very close to sandhill cranes, at least in my experience. They have boundaries, and they are not amenable to having them crossed. I’ve mentioned previously that groups of them flying toward me will almost always divert to one side or the other rather than flying directly over head. When approached — which I always do in a non-aggressive manner, never getting very close — they seem fine up to a point. But once that point is reached, usually while I’m a good distance away, they are clearly uncomfortable with my presence and I don’t get closer. I’ve often had the best luck when photographing from a vehicle, especially when I can approach slowly and silently or, better yet, when I can park and wait for them. That’s what happened here — I was stopped along a rural roadway and they walked parallel to my position, perhaps more securely since my vehicle was on the opposite side of a berm from them.

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 | 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.