Tag Archives: water

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

White Pelicans in Flight

March 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A flock of white pelicans crosses the marsh before landing at a San Joaquin Valley wildlife refuge

I believe that I have written in the past about the first time I saw white pelicans in the Central Valley of California. The preface to that story is that I somehow managed to live in this part of California for my whole life without realizing that this valley is filled with an amazing diversity of migratory wildlife every winter, so I’m still “discovering” things that many other take for granted. In any case, I was out in the valley at one of the wildlife refuges on a very foggy morning when it was impossible to see more than a few dozen feet into the murk. I could hear birds, but certainly not see them. I stopped and opened the window of the car to listen, and almost immediately a flock of large birds coasted silently into and out of sight. I was somewhat taken aback and thought for a moment that they “looked like pelicans,” but since I had no idea that such birds would be found here I dismissed the thought. Later that day my friends began to talk about seeing “white pelicans,” and later they showed me where a flock was resting on a small island in a marsh.

This flock arrived late in the day and was again unexpected. We had travelled to the edge a marsh to watch a large flock of Ross’s geese. They were settled in for the afternoon, but we knew that they would begin to fly out as the end of the day approached. This time it was almost completely clear, so it was easy to see this large flock of birds as it silently floated over the edge of the marsh – with almost no flapping of wings, in great contrast to the geese! This time I more quickly figured out what I was seeing and I photographed them as the crossed into the center of the marsh and landed.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, Morning

March 15, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

San Francisco skyline and Golden Gate Bridge at dawn as a winter storm passes

I have previously photographed this alignment of San Francisco icons so I know more or less the precise spot to set up in – a slice of landscape about 10 feet wide and perhaps 40 feet long. It has been a few years since I’ve stopped to photograph there, but the opportunity came up on this morning. I had driven up to San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge to meet up with a large group of photographers who were on a so-called “photo walk” devoted to long exposure photography. I had no idea it would be as popular as it turned out to be! Although I arrived at the base of the road to this location well before sun rise, as I ascended I encountered several successive parking areas that were already full… before dawn… on a cold winter day… during a storm!

So I headed on up the road toward the summit, but found that access gates were closed before the top. I parked and thought a bit about what I might shoot, then grabbed my gear and started walking on up the hill. Before long I stopped at this spot – where other photographers were already set up – and set up in “my spot” that aligns the bridge tower with the building and made a few exposures. It was still quite dark – just before dawn and with thick clouds above the city – but this ended up working to my advantage. Photographing this bridge at night is very tricky because the towers are lit rather brightly and the orange color is very “hot” when photographed, making for some truly complicated exposure decisions. However, with just a bit of diffused pre-dawn light filtering in and the lights in the city not yet extinguished, it became possible to get a nice exposure on the bridge and reveal some of the details of the downtown buildings.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Salt Flats and Waterways

March 9, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Seasonal creeks twist though salt flats of Death Valley, Death Valley National Park, California

Since I have recently posted a few other photograph from this same location and with some of the same commentary that I might include here, I’ll try to keep this description a bit short. The photograph was made from the top of Dantes View, the Death Valley observation point that is about a mile above the lowest part of the Valley near Badwater. The panorama from Dantes View almost overwhelmingly expansive, so on this visit I though that rather than just trying to photograph that immensity, I would also use a long focal length lens to try to isolate and pick out some smaller portions of the overall scene.

This photograph shows a section of the salt flats, surrounded by browner areas that include more gravel. A darker foreground area that runs along the road is visible at the bottom of the photograph, and the upper corner includes the area where the West Side Drive runs between the flats and the lower slopes of the Panamint Range. The many waterways crossing the flats and then converging on the salt area are evidence of the role water plays in the creation of this barren terrain.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Pacific Ocean, Clearing Storm

March 3, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sun breaks through clouds as a storm clears above the Pacific Ocean along the California coast.

On this mid-February day, we did a long looping drive down from the San Francisco Bay Area to the lower end of Big Sur coast and back up along the Coast Highway. It seems that for a good part of the past month or two, my photographic trips have been excellent predictors of awful weather, usually of the gray, flat, and cloudy type. (Fortunately, I’ve seen enough great days that I feel like this is a matter of balance in the universe, and I know that I’ll get my good light days again soon enough.) Although I proclaimed that by going south we would escape the northern California fog that was around that day, by the time we got out to the coast near Piedras Blancas… it was raining! And rain wasn’t even in the weather forecast.

When I encounter such weather or other impediments to photography, I have a series of ways to cope with the situation. I tell myself that I’m “scouting” locations that I’ll come back to in better conditions – and, frankly, this often turns out to be true. Sometimes I might just decide not to focus on photography so much and perhaps try other things. But most often I keep looking, and sometimes I start seeing small things that sort of sneak up on me and are then gone. Looking at this photograph you might imagine a day of glorious light passing through broken clouds to light the ocean. In reality, it was moments of such light, with many moments of gray in between. But when this light does shine though a cloud deck that is thinning and produces reflecting patterns stretching to the horizon, such a moment may make a long day’s drive worth it.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: water

White Pelicans in Flight

San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, Morning

Salt Flats and Waterways

Pacific Ocean, Clearing Storm

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