Tag Archives: usa

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Great Egret, Reflection

March 14, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A great egret and its reflection in a wetland pond

While I don’t know the full extent of their (likely huge) range, these birds are ubiquitous in California. I remember when I first noticed them, many years ago when I was a dedicated cyclist. In those days I commuted to work by bicycle, covering between 30 and 55 miles a day, and portions of my ride always passed creeks and drainage canals. You might miss them speeding past in a car, but on a bicycle I frequently looked into these waterways and spotted these impressively large and nearly pure white birds. As time went on I found them all over the place — they can be found in many agricultural areas, for example, and I have photographed them feeding in kelp beds along the Pacific Ocean shoreline.

In flight they alternate between ungainliness and beauty. They can seem a bit gangly and awkward at times — their take-off can be somewhat awkward, for example. On the other hand they flare their wings beautifully upon landing. I don’t usually go out specifically to photograph the egrets, but sometimes it seems unavoidable since they turn up in so many places. They seem to have somewhat clearly defined boundaries when it comes to human presence. They more or less ignore us until we get too close (though this boundary changes depending upon whether they are feeding or not), but get a bit too close and you can see them “tighten up” and prepare for a sudden take-off, at which point you most often have only the opportunity to photograph them from the back as they depart. This bird had been hunting and seemed a bit more willing than most to let me photograph.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Trees, Meadow, Snow Storm

March 13, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Snow falls on a tree-studded Yosemite Valley meadow

I made this photograph as a snow squall swept through this part of Yosemite Valley, on an afternoon that featured changeable weather. It was often cloudy, sometimes the sun broke through, at other times snow fell heavily for short periods. It was during one of those latter moments when I stopped here, entranced by the silhouetted tree shapes and the moodiness of the snow-obscured landscape.

Snow and fog (and to some extent rain) can make the task of photography more difficult, but the visual value they bring mac the challenges worthwhile. A location like this one can be almost too dense with complex detail when the air is completely clear, but some fog or snow mute the distant details and simplify the scene in useful ways. Here the dark shapes of the closer trees acquire a stronger (and more abstract) presence in the scene, and the distant features that would otherwise be visible fade to obscurity and instead provide a sort of depth to the scene. I made a practical decision, too, when photographing this scene. Because of the challenging conditions of windblown snow, rather than putting my bigger camera on the tripod I shot handheld with a smaller system I was also carrying.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest, After Snow

March 11, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Densely intertwining forest trees after a Yosemite Valley snow storm

My previous day in Yosemite Valley had drawn to a close as snow showers dropped a few inches of snow. A blustery and cold little weather front had arrived, bringing showers — the sort of weather than gives you a few minutes of impressive snowfall, followed moments later by the light breaking through. On my way out of the Valley — I was staying up at Wawona — I had stopped to photograph it before starting that snowy drive back to my cabin.

I suspected that the weather would clear the next morning and that bright light and new-fallen snow could turn out to be my subject. My first thought had been to head for Tunnel View, not usually my first choice for Yosemite Valley photography at this point, but potentially very beautiful in these conditions. But when I arrived there the completely clear skies produced a rather mundane sort of scene, at least by comparison to what I had hoped for. (I know… that view is never actually “mundane,” but I’m more likely to photograph it when something really special happens these days.) But further down in the Valley I passed an area of skeletal trees, mostly without leaves or needles, that still held snow and was back-lit. The location was about as non-iconic as you can find in the Valley, but I stopped and wandered off into this forest scene to photograph the patters of branches, trunks, and snow.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Yosemite Cliffs, New Snow

March 10, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cloud-filtered light passes over granite cliffs dusted by snow

This photograph came as a bit of a surprise. It had been cold and cloudy, and much of the light was rather flat underneath overcast. I had photographed through the afternoon, often finding moments of fine light, but as the day wound toward sunset the clouds thickened and obscured much of the earlier light. Running out of ideas — except for some that I was holding for a bit later — I ended up at an accessible location and, much to my surprise, some like appeared. Moments earlier this bit of cliff face had been entirely in shadow, but then a break in the clouds moved past and illuminated it.

There is a notion that landscape photography is always a slow and contemplative exercise. It certainly can be that, and I know I do spend a fair amount of time walking slowly, looking, thinking, and not necessarily making photographs until I find something — or it finds me. But as much as the landscape doesn’t move, the light and atmosphere often change quite quickly, and photographing it can be an exercise in timing. The timing takes the form of being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, something that you cannot control even though you can increase the odds, and then the timing of making photographs at the moments when light does its most interesting stuff. At these times if you turn away for a few seconds you may miss something entirely.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: usa

Great Egret, Reflection

Trees, Meadow, Snow Storm

Forest, After Snow

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