Tag Archives: water

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

Mountains And Salt Flats, Morning

April 18, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Death Valley, Mountains, Morning — Water seeping onto salt flats reflects morning light on Panamint Mountains

Mountains And Salt Flats, Morning

On your first visit to Death Valley and to this particular spot in the park, you might be surprised to find water here. I know I was the first time I saw the spot so many years ago. As I drove past on a road through the valley I thought I saw water on the salt flats, but I suspected that it was just a mirage. But I kept seeing it on subsequent visits and before long I stopped, got out, and walked out there to see what was going on. From the roadway one walks across a low-angle gravel fan that is one of the more desolate spots in Death Valley. At the right time during the right years, there actually can be flowers growing here for a short time, but it small numbers and widely scattered. On this recent visit, even though there were flowers around, I found spots out here where I would see literally nothing growing at all.

At the bottom of the gravel fan one enters salt weed or salt grass, an extremely hardy plant that grows in some of the most hostile locations imaginable — as long as there is some water, even if it is full of salt and chemicals. Passing through this area makes for difficult walking, between the rough but sometimes muddy ground and the sharp branches of the plant. Beyond the plants water seeps onto the salt flat, barely moving at all, then slowly travels in narrow and very shallow sheets down toward even lower portions of the valley. Surprisingly, things do live here, including insects and, on occasion, some rather exuberant birds. If you stand in just the right place, at sunrise the early morning light on the Panamint Mountain Range is reflected in these ponds.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Great Egret, Reflection

March 14, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A great egret and its reflection in a wetland pond

While I don’t know the full extent of their (likely huge) range, these birds are ubiquitous in California. I remember when I first noticed them, many years ago when I was a dedicated cyclist. In those days I commuted to work by bicycle, covering between 30 and 55 miles a day, and portions of my ride always passed creeks and drainage canals. You might miss them speeding past in a car, but on a bicycle I frequently looked into these waterways and spotted these impressively large and nearly pure white birds. As time went on I found them all over the place — they can be found in many agricultural areas, for example, and I have photographed them feeding in kelp beds along the Pacific Ocean shoreline.

In flight they alternate between ungainliness and beauty. They can seem a bit gangly and awkward at times — their take-off can be somewhat awkward, for example. On the other hand they flare their wings beautifully upon landing. I don’t usually go out specifically to photograph the egrets, but sometimes it seems unavoidable since they turn up in so many places. They seem to have somewhat clearly defined boundaries when it comes to human presence. They more or less ignore us until we get too close (though this boundary changes depending upon whether they are feeding or not), but get a bit too close and you can see them “tighten up” and prepare for a sudden take-off, at which point you most often have only the opportunity to photograph them from the back as they depart. This bird had been hunting and seemed a bit more willing than most to let me photograph.

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: Ocean & Coast

Point Sur, Horizon, Clouds

February 23, 2018 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Historic Point Sur is dwarfed by clouds and the Pacific Ocean

By the time I got to this point on the Big Sur coast on this February winter day, it was past early morning and the light was more that of the midday hours. Often that might mean that the light had become flat and uninteresting, but some clouds close to the shoreline, some sunlight in the distance, and some high clouds further on made even this daytime light interesting.

I’m very familiar with this spot, where a historic lighthouse facility sits on top of a remarkable hill that would be separated from the land but for a low, sandy peninsula connecting it to the shoreline. Photographing from some distance away with a long lens, and aiming pretty much straight into the brightest reflected light, the hill’s details almost disappear into shadow, and it appears to float in the light and water.

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

Two White-Faced Ibises

February 9, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two white-faced ibises interacting in a San Joaquin Valley wetland pond

The white-faced ibises have intrigued me since before I knew what they were — in fact, I suppose I could say that I photographed them before I realized that they existed. Some years back, on my very first more or less accidental exposure to bird photography, I found myself “out there” on an early morning, with no more clue about what was going on than “someone told me I should go here and see the birds.”(That someone was a colleague where I taught.) I barely knew a goose from a swan, at least when they were flying quickly overhead, but I was amazed by the number and variety of birds that morning. I photographed like a madman, not really knowing at all what I was photographing. Later on, back home and looking at files, I recall finding a series of photographs of a line of birds overhead that had oddly long and curving beaks. I wondered what they were. It turns out they were ibises.

Ibises are not always the most common specimens. In addition to their unusual beaks, they have another particular visual characteristic. In many situations you would regard them as dark and fairly drab-looking birds. Photographing them in flight is often difficult, partly because they frequently just end up looking black against any lighter background. But catch them in the right light and the texture, patterns, and colors of their feathers begin to appear. On this morning I happened upon a group of ibises, perhaps a couple dozen, in shallow water. I stopped and watched quietly and was able to photograph a variety of behaviors, including this interaction between two of the birds.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: water

Mountains And Salt Flats, Morning

Great Egret, Reflection

Point Sur, Horizon, Clouds

Two White-Faced Ibises

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