Tag Archives: valley

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands, Fog, Dawn Sky

January 31, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fog blankets Central Valley wetlands beneath the winter dawn sky

For Americans, the world has recently been a wild and unpredictable place, and most everyone is feeling a great deal of angst. (This is particularly true if you belong to any of many common and large groups of America — people whose ancestors were immigrants, people who care deeply about the Constitution and America’s place in the world, people who believe in a country that is open and welcoming, and those of us who value our great public lands.) While there is a lot to do and it is not acceptable for citizens of a representative democracy to turn away from the struggle, one still must take a break at times. This morning was my break.

As I usually do, I arose very early and was on the road way before dawn, completing most of a two-hour drive before the first faint light came to the eastern sky. Turning off the main highway onto narrow country roads I soon ran into winter tule fog. I love the fog, especially for photography, so I was mildly disappointed when it thinned as I reached my destination. However, there was compensation for that feeling when I realized that it revealed the beautiful pre-dawn sky above the gentle fog above these wetlands.

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

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Great Egret, Airborne

January 24, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A great egret flies past, skimming above wetland plants

In some ways these magnificent birds are very accessible, but in other they can be hard to photograph in interesting ways. They are common at the locations where I frequently photograph birds, and when I have decent cover (shooting from a vehicle or similar) I can frequently get relatively close to them without scaring them into flight. The key is a very slow and cautious approach and sensitivity to the body language of the bird — there are often hints when egrets think that I am getting too close. From just outside that boundary the egrets are large enough to fill the frame in good conditions, and I have lots of photographs of them on the ground feeding. Perhaps too many!

That’s the problem. An egret on the ground is interesting, but not often quite as interesting as an egret in the air. (Grounded egrets can be beautiful in the right light and with the right background and so forth.) In flight they are beautiful birds, typically using slow wing motion and often gliding, and they assume impressive poses when taking off and when landing. However, the lift off is sudden and the flight path typically takes the bird away from me. But sometimes I get lucky, as I did with this specimen. I was actually unaware of its presence and, in fact, it may have been unaware of mine. I had stopped to photograph something else when the bird suddenly flew into range from my left and passed in front of me as it made a gentle turn around my position. I’ve learned to react fairly quickly and to get the camera up and tracking, but in the best of circumstances it is still a challenge. The first couple of frames are almost humorously off-target, but then I found my subject and centered it in the frame as it passed by very closely.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetland Pond, Reflected Sky

January 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late afternoon light on a pond reflecting the winter sky

I made this photograph during our annual New Year’s Day visit to the migratory birds of California’s Central Valley, something that has become more or less a tradition during the past few years. The idea is to join a few like-minded friends to greet the literal dawn of the new year, and to then spend the day photographing. The only problem with this as a New Year’s Day celebration is that we have to get up at about 3:30 AM, making it somewhat difficult (or at least unwise!) to stay up until midnight the night before.

This time we arrived, as always, very early, and spent the morning working our way around the vicinity trying to figure out where the best locations would be for photographing the birds. The usual schedule has us photographing for a few hours into the late morning, then taking a sort of time out in the middle of the day — often including a nap to compensate for that early wake-up call — and then resuming the wild goose chase at some point in the afternoon. Late in the day we were still trying to decide where we wanted to be for sunset, so we drove a gravel road that took us past this pond on our way to a likely goose roosting spot — and I saw this beautiful reflection of the winter sky along the way.

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

Autumn Tree, Broken Branches, Ground Fog

January 19, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A tree with autumn leaves, surrounded by broken branches, with thinning ground fog below

When we think of Yosemite Valley the first things that come to mind are likely to be towering cliffs, waterfalls, peaks, domes, and other monumental things. The Valley is a place built on a grand scale, but more subtle surprises await if you are there at the right time. Especially between late fall and early spring, when the conditions are right beautiful ground fog frequently appears in meadows, drifting back and forth and gradually thinning as the morning warms.

On this morning I intended to be in the Valley early, but other things distracted me on my way there from Oakhurst (including fog in another valley!), and I arrived in the Valley a bit later than planned. At that point I had more or less written off my plan to go fog-hunting, so I was thrilled to catch the very tail end of the morning fog in a few spots here and there. This tree, a somewhat well-known elm, was just out of the fog that still lay across the surface of the meadow beyond.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: valley

Wetlands, Fog, Dawn Sky

Great Egret, Airborne

Wetland Pond, Reflected Sky

Autumn Tree, Broken Branches, Ground Fog

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