Tag Archives: water

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Pond And Early Morning Autumn Sky

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Pond And Early Morning Autumn Sky
A marshland pond reflects cloudy early morning autumn sky

Pond And Early Morning Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A marshland pond reflects cloudy early morning autumn sky.

I regard this as a sort of “almost winter” landscape, since I made the photograph in mid-December, about a week before the winter solstice. By this time of year California is solidly into the wet-season regime — the polar opposite of the state’s summer. Pacific weather fronts from the Gulf of Alaska sweep across the state periodically, and when the weather behaves somewhat normally the states wetland areas come back to life. And, yes, by California it is definitely the “cold season” by mid-September!

Scenes similar to this one may be found all over the state. All you need is a source of water and some expanse of relatively flat terrain where the water can pool. This one is located in an agricultural plain in the central part of the state, but I’ve seen similar pools across the entire state from south to north and east to west. You can even find them at times in the desert areas. This morning brought skies filled with clouds portending the arrival of one of those winter weather systems. After an initial burst of sunrise light the sun moved behind clouds and the colors softened. I photographed past some remnant shallow water plants, now gone to winter brown, and toward the early morning sky to the north.

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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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetland Plants, Dawn

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Wetland Plants, Dawn
Water plants grow in a wetland pond, photographed just before sunrise, california, usa, north, america, mnwr, nature, landscape, central, san joaquin, valley

Wetland Plants, Dawn. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Water plants grow in a wetland pond, photographed just before sunrise.

California is a state of astonishingly diverse landscapes, and quite a few of them can seem almost monumental — the peaks of the Sierra Nevada, the vast expanses of deserts, the long Pacific coast shoreline, the redwood forests, and more. These are the subjects that often attract visitors, and I’m not immune to their attractions either. In fact, I’ve spent years photographing all of them, and I continue to do so. But as a person who has lived nearly his entire life in the state, I have learned — sometimes rather slowly! — that there are other, more subtle landscapes that are also quite beautiful.

Wetland scenes like this one are among those that might easily be overlooked at first. In fact, I was guilty of overlooking them for decades, even though I had opportunities to get to know them. It was only in the past decade or some that I became entranced by them, often as a side-effect of photographing other subjects that brought me there. They are found all over the state — near the mouths of rivers, in the shallows surrounding San Francisco Bay and similar bodies, it various flatlands. I made this photograph in a place that most folks looking for California beauty would not visit — a quiet place in an agricultural area where winter rains collect in shallow ponds. I was there on a quiet morning, arriving before dawn when the first light was coming to the eastern sky and the colors reflected on the surface of the still water.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Forest and Granite, Reflections

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Forest and Granite, Reflections
Trees of a sparse forest on rocky ground, reflected in the surface of a subalpine lake

Forest and Granite, Reflections. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees of a sparse forest on rocky ground, reflected in the surface of a subalpine lake.

Yes, I am still mining the work from our late-summer week in the John Muir Wilderness, during which five of us base-camped and photographed the heck out of the surrounding area. That pleasant late-summer days seem far away now during the cold season. (You can bet that these subjects look a lot different at the moment!) Yet as soon as I look at them it all comes right back to me… and I start thinking about the next trip to such a place.

I made this photograph late in the day after walking up to this rocky little basin, full of lakes and thin forest and surrounded by talus slopes leading up toward the Sierra Nevada crest. The specific location is a small bay extending to one side of a larger lake. The main lake was largely rock bound, with a huge cliff at its upper end. But this side bay was more gentle, surrounded by more level terrain and forest, and protected from wind. Late in the day the shadows from the nearby peaks blocked the sun, and I photographed the trees and rocks on the opposite shoreline in soft light.

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.

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 Dawn Clouds

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Wetland Dawn Clouds
A cloud-filled dawn sky reflected in the waters of a wetland pond

Wetland Dawn Clouds. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Somehow it seems appropriate to make a sunrise photograph the subject of the first post of a new year. In fact, I and a few friends have started a new tradition over the past few years — we meet every New Year’s Day before dawn to greet the literal dawn of the new year together. We make photographs, tell stories, share food and champagne, consider what the coming year may bring, enjoy the camaraderie, and perhaps even consider the fact that yet another year has passed. (Perhaps the only downside — or maybe it is an upside? — is that in order to make it to our meeting place before dawn we all have to get up so early than partying until midnight the evening before is pretty much out of the question.)

So, here’s my Happy New Year wish to you. I hope you have a great year, that you start it and end it among friends, that you visit interesting places, make new discoveries, and enjoy familiar wonders, too. If you are photographer, best wishes for finding a crop of new subjects and for making beautiful, compelling photographs of the new and the familiar. And to all, thanks for following my daily posts and my photography.

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.

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