Tag Archives: valley

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

Ground, Fog, Birds, Sky

April 8, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of geese takes to the air above a fog bank at dawn

This might seem almost like a photograph of nothing, but I don’t see it quite that way. Arriving very early on a winter morning at one of my favorite bird areas in the Central Valley, I found it quite foggy. It wasn’t so foggy that I couldn’t see, but the atmosphere near the ground was opaque enough to limit my view to perhaps a few hundred feet, especially along the ground that was shrouded by this tule fog.

Before long a huge flock of geese lifted off from behind the low fog and streamed across by view from one side to the other, just about the fog cloud. Because of the distance to the birds their cries were muted and, oddly, everything seemed almost still and quiet even as what may have been thousands of birds were in the air. My idea for this photograph is to make it into a very large print, where the layers may have an imposing scale reminiscent of actually being there.

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 Birdscape

April 5, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Flocks of Ross’s geese take to the foggy dawn sky above California’s Central Valley

I arrived at one of my favorite migratory bird locations before dawn. It was foggy, but the tule fog was already beginning to thin even as the first light came to the sky. Often when I arrive I hear nearby flocks as soon as I get out of my car, but on this morning the birds all seemed to be a bit further off in the distance. In fact, my initial inclination was to photograph landscape, since it didn’t seem like there were all that many birds around..

I went ahead and got ready to make some landscape photographs in the fog as dawn came closer — it seemed like one of those mornings when the fog was shallow enough that the colors of sunrise sky might suffuse the scene. But the fog was thick enough that it was difficult to find subjects to anchor the landscape… until a large flock of geese began to take to the sky just beyond a few scattered bushes and small trees. I quickly swung the camera in that direction and photographed as the flock rose into the colorful, foggy sky.

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

Cliff, Snow and Ice

April 4, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Snow and ice encrust the granite face of cliffs near Glacier Point

I made this photograph within the first few minutes after dawn and as the first light came over the Sierra to the east to touch the rim of Yosemite Valley near Glacier Point. The rugged cliff face below the summit was still in shadow, and it would remain that way for a long time, especially on a winter day like this one when the sun never rises very high in the sky. As I looked up at this view I thought back to a few times in the past when I’ve skied out to Glacier Point and looked down at the spot where I was standing on this morning.

This is a very rugged fact, crisscrossed by fractures and ledges in many places. On this morning some recent snow was still plastered to the rocks, and where water flowed from melting snow and then froze there were large patches of ice. In a few places the rock is red, I presume possibly from either some sort of seepage or perhaps from lichen. The tone of the scene is quite blue since the only light is from that gigantic blue light panel we call the sky!

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

Great Egret Takes Flight

April 2, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A great egret takes flight above San Joaquin Valley wetlands

Egrets are among the easiest birds to find — as long as you go where they are — and also among the most impressive. They are mostly individuals, rarely seen in groups, though occasionally they may collect in numbers of a few dozen in the winter. I typically find them around water, ranging from creeks and drainage canals through ponds and even the ocean shoreline. (There is one small pond not too far from where I live where I can almost always find a single egret in the area, and this has been the case for at least the last fifteen years.)

They don’t initially seem too distressed by human presence, especially if they are hunting and have found a target. However, they have clear boundaries and if you get too close they will suddenly take off, with little warning. They can be quite beautiful in flight, usually moving their wings slowly and even gliding, and they flare their wings impressively as they land. Unfortunately, most often they are flying away from my camera position — so it was special to be able to track this one as it flew past me from right to left.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: valley

Dawn Birdscape

Cliff, Snow and Ice

Great Egret Takes Flight

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