Tag Archives: valley

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands, Early Light

December 15, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light and fog along a San Joaquin Valley levee.

I seem to have developed a ritual for photographing this favorite San Joaquin Valley location. Almost invariably I arrive very early in the morning, in the half hour before dawn. Often I meet photographer friends who have arrived from other places. We stop at an area near the entrance and greet one another, engage in a bit of small talk, marvel (again!) at the sound of tens of thousands of migratory birds just beyond out sight. We get in our vehicles and we start a circuit of the wetlands, first looking for a place to photograph the dawn. By now, after photographing there for a few years in variable conditions, we all have our favorite spots — this place if there is heavy fog, that spot if the birds are close by, another if it looks like we may have a clear view of sunrise.

On this morning I moved quickly past the first ponds to round a corner on the perimeter road and then stopped near a junction of several levees, at a spot that has often proved fruitful for my photography. There was a thin fog in the air and high, broken clouds were above the Sierra far to the east. Depending on which direction I chose to point that camera I found a range of subjects. Birds were nearby, the Sierra were in the distance, and in between was that flooded wetlands. As the first thin sunlight from the rising sun came through the fog I swung my camera back in the direction from which I had arrived and photographed along the levee route, past trees and brush to a long grove of old cottonwoods lying along the boundary.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands Dawn, Sierra Crest

December 14, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The peaks of the High Sierra rise beyond San Joaquin Valley wetlands on an autumn morning

In the late fall and winter, California’s Great Central Valley manages to provide some of the most diverse and beautiful effects of light and atmosphere that I know of. In a way this is ironic, since most of us probably tend to think of the place as a fairly boring, flat, and drab bunch of agricultural land that is too often smoggy and hot and dry in the summer. But in the winter, especially if you get away from the drive-through freeways, there is a lot to see here. This is especially true in the wetlands areas, with their wildlife, trees, ponds and fogs.

I arrived before dawn on this early December morning and, to be honest, I was not initially overly hopeful about the sunrise prospects. In fact, moments before I arrived I had driven past beautiful pre-dawn reflections on nearby marshes and decided to keep going toward my destination, only to arrive and find much less striking light. Sometimes the most brilliant sunrise light can blind me to more subtle beauties, but on this morning I found a quiet spot overlooking water and trees, stopped, and just photographed the beginning of the day. In this photograph the wetlands trees are reflected in the water as they march away into the slightly foggy distance, a few sandhill cranes fly past, and in the distance the crest of the Sierra Nevada rises toward the sky.

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 Flight of White Pelicans

December 10, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A dawn flight of white pelicans above San Joaquin Valley wetlands

I’m going with a bit of mystery and mood in this photograph — I could probably lighten things if I wanted to, but I prefer the darker rendition. I made the photograph very early on a late-fall morning, when thin fog had settled above the wetlands and high clouds partially obscured the sky above the summit of the Sierra Nevada far to my east. As soon as there is any light the birds begin to take to the air. These very early moments are probably my favorite of almost any day in these wetlands.

This photograph and the series like it posed some interesting technical and aesthetic challenges. The general light level was quite low, especially with the thin fog, and because I was handholding a long lens I had to keep my ISO somewhat high. As the birds passed from left to right in front of me they passed from near obscurity in dark sky and fog through brilliant light as they crossed in front of clouds lit by the first light of the sun. I panned with the birds as I kept watch for landscape elements that might give some definition to a composition and kept an eye on the birds, waiting for a group to stretch out in a beautiful line and to pass in just the right area of illuminated sky.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Marsh and Sky

December 8, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late autumn sky above a flooded marsh, Central Valley, California

A winter ritual begins each year about this time. In the late fall the migratory birds return to California’s Great Central Valley and a band of photographers of which I am a part also heads out to the valley. The primary draw is the birds — geese, ibises, cranes, herons, egrets, and more — which gather by the thousands in the wetlands. But the valley itself also has its attractions at this time of year. The tule fog that slows drivers and obscures the sun also makes the landscape quiet and mysterious. The flat terrain is open to the sky and the clouds of winter storms create an overhead landscape.

A few days ago I made my first trip of the season to the valley, joining a small group of friends for a day of photography. We spent the first few hours focused on the birds — mostly geese and cranes on this visit — and then paused in the late morning. It was during this midday pause that I stopped along the edge of one of the marshland ponds and made this photograph of the expansive cloud-filled sky reflected in the surface of the water.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: valley

Wetlands, Early Light

Wetlands Dawn, Sierra Crest

Dawn Flight of White Pelicans

Marsh and Sky

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