Tag Archives: valley

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

Crane Departure, Morning

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Crane Departure, Morning
Sandhill cranes take to the air in morning light above Central Valley wetlands.

Crane Departure, Morning. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sandhill cranes take to the air in morning light above Central Valley wetlands.

In my experience, bird photography often involves a whole lot of sitting around, thinking about where the birds might be, stopping and watching and hoping that they will engage in some interesting behavior. The actual picture making can take up a small percentage of the total time on task, with vast slow times in between. (And that’s not even counting the long drives — usually in the dark — to get there and back.)

My photographs of sandhill cranes on this autumn morning might be illustrative. I drove two hours in darkness to get here a half hour before dawn. I followed a levee road out into agricultural and wetland country, not seeing all that many birds, at least not of the sort I was looking for. Eventually, in a place where I was not necessarily expecting to find them, I came upon a large flock of sandhill cranes in a pond. It was still before sunrise when I decided to stop and see what developed here. I made a few quick images in the low light, but then I mostly just sat there and… watched. Eventually some of the birds became more active and a bit later the first semi-directional sunrise light came weakly through the fog. And a few minutes after that happened small groups of the birds began to depart. Then they were gone and… not much else happened until I left a few hours later.

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: Fall, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Trees and Morning Fog

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Autumn Trees and Morning Fog
Autumn fog clears above wetland trees in California’s Great Central Valley.

Autumn Trees and Morning Fog. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn fog clears above wetland trees in California’s Great Central Valley.

This past week I made my first trip of this fall and winter season to California’s Great Central Valley. During other times of the year I usually pass through this landscape on my way to some other place — to the Sierra, mostly, but perhaps to Southern California or even north toward Mount Shasta and then the Pacific Northwest. To be honest, it is not a place where I want to spend a lot of time in the summer! But in autumn the weather cools, beautiful tule fog rises in the morning, migratory birds are abundant, and the atmosphere and light can be subtly beautiful.

This is hardly a landscape of icons. The terrain is mostly flat and largely agricultural. Perhaps the closest to that sort of thing might be the occasional clear views of the Sierra Nevada. But if you poke around in the right places on the right days in the right conditions… there is a lot to see here. I made this photograph in a wetland area that I frequent. I was hoping for thick fog when I headed out there before dawn — I did not quite get that, but the thinner fog allowed a bit more light on the scene while the thin fog softened the colors and features.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Tule Fog, Wetland Sunrise

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Tule Fog, Wetland Sunrise
The winter sun rises thorugh tule fog above Central Valley wetlands.

Tule Fog, Wetland Sunrise. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The winter sun rises thorugh tule fog above Central Valley wetlands.

This is my favorite season of the year for a whole bunch of reasons. It brings so many special opportunities here on the West Coast. The fall colors come to the Sierra and then work their way downward and westward over a period of up to three months — and sometimes even a bit longer. The hot, dry season of wildfires and haze comes to an end, replaced by cooler temperatures and much more interesting skies and light as Pacific weather fronts arrive. Migratory birds return to the Central Valley… and once again I get to photograph the tule fog!

This photograph comes from a beautiful tule fog morning in the Central Valley some years ago, a perfect morning when the fog was thick but not so thick as to completely obscure the rising sun, here silhouetting the wetland foliage and gently reflecting on the surface of a pond. What the photograph cannot convey — but what it certainly evokes for me — is the sound of many thousands of nearby geese, cranes, blackbirds, and more.

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 and Amazon.

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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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Cascade

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Aspen Cascade
Autumn aspen trees spill down a small valley in the Eastern Sierran Nevada.

Aspen Cascade. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn aspen trees spill down a small valley in the Eastern Sierran Nevada.

There is no escaping the fact that this is an iconic Eastern Sierra fall color subject. Heck, even Apple used it for one of their operating systems! It was a bit of a surprise to me that I ended up here on this year’s abbreviated fall color expedition. I had initially planned to photograph much farther north and perhaps even to the east of the Sierra. However, those plans were derailed after I crossed the Sierra crest via Sonora Pass and dropped into the worst wildfire smoke I think I have experienced. I headed south, thinking it might get clearer as I drove, but it actually got worse. Coming into Lee Vining I could barely make out the near shoreline of Mono Lake in the noxious murk. So I decided that I would just continue south until the air improved.

It wasn’t until Bishop, California that it became tolerable, though it was smoky even there. So I headed into the the Sierra from there and ended up in the drainage in which this is one of the three major forks. I mostly photographed other things, and even when I went here the first time I spent most of my time of photographs of individual aspen leaves. When I returned to my camp after sunset a huge and thick cloud of wildfire smoke descended. I almost packed up and left, but I decided I would see what it looked like in the morning. It was still smoky when I woke up, though some light was getting through, so I chose the sure bet and went to this place. This curving grove of aspens winding its way down a shallow gully to the shore of a lake is a remarkable thing, with quite a lot of color variation from top to bottom.

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 and Amazon.

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.