Tag Archives: weather

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

Geese, Autumn Sky

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Geese, Autumn Sky
Geese return to Central Valley wetlands under dramatic autumn sky.

Geese, Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Geese return to Central Valley wetlands under dramatic autumn sky.

This has been a strange autumn in California in a host of ways. The state has been contending with the effects of warmer and drier conditions and declining precipitation for at least a decade now, and late-autumn is now part of the wildfire season, a time that used to terminate with the first late-October rains. In my part of California, where the rains usually get going in November and December is one of the three core rainy months., we have had almost no precipitation at all. You’ll pardon us if we spend a lot of time watching the sky and hoping for real weather to arrive.

A week ago I spent some time in the Great Central Valley making photographs. I had been putting off my visits because I prefer “interesting weather,” and there really wasn’t any. I finally went there because there was the tiniest chance of a little bit of fog and because, well, it looked like that would be the best we’d see for a while. The morning was nice — the true fog did not materials, but there was a beautiful softness in the atmosphere anyway. But late in the day it just became… gray… as a cloud shield from a weather front came in from the west. I almost left, and I had actually mostly packed up, when I decided that I might as well stick around a bit longer since I was there. It turned out to be the right decision. One development was something familiar to me from past evenings — as the light moved to the west the hazy atmosphere became more transparent and, like a stage scene illuminated behind a scrim, the shapes of the western clouds became clearer as geese arrived to settle into a nearby pond.

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: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Precursors to a Storm

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Precursors to a Storm
High clouds over the Pacific Ocean herald an incoming weather front.

Precursors to a Storm. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

High clouds over the Pacific Ocean herald an incoming weather front.

To be honest, the storm whose arrival was heralded by these clouds did not turn out to be much of a storm at all. It rained a bit further north in the state, but not much happened south of San Francisco. Unfortunately, it looks like California is headed for another very dry winter, with virtually no rain so far as we start into December, the heart of our rainy season. And there is no rain on the horizon according to long term forecasts.

Nonetheless, thinking that the sky might be interesting, I took a day trip down the Big Sur coast to see what I could find. It was, as is typical when a Pacific front is on its way, a lovely, sunny, and relatively warm day. These precursor clouds extending out ahead of the weather front were beautiful, and this particular formation convinced me to stop and make a series of photographs juxtaposing it above the calm ocean extending to the horizon.

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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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: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Pacific Sky

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Pacific Sky
“Pacific Sky” — High clouds above the Pacific Ocean are harbingers of an approaching weather system.

Trips into the field to photograph have been difficult during the past few months. Aside from a fair amount of local photography — literally in the neighborhood — visits to more far-flung locations have been rare. I managed to get to the Sierra a couple of times. I recently went looking for migratory birds. And a week ago I did a down-and-back drive to the upper Big Sur coast, going just a bit further south than Lucia. I did not make a lot of photographs, but I stopped for a few… and it was just good to get out and photograph almost as if the world was normal again. (It most emphatically is not normal yet, but there are some reasons for optimism.)

I had “interesting” weather on this visit — which, of course, is the best kind of weather along the coast. Perfect blue sky days are, to be honest, a bit boring. On this morning I raced the lead clouds of an approaching Pacific weather system as I drove south, trying to stay just ahead of the more dismal light behind the actual cloud shield. I stopped here for this beautiful layer of offshore clouds, put on a wide-angle lens, and just took it all in.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Desert Mountains, Dust Storm

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Desert Mountains, Dust Storm
A desert dust storm obscures Amargosa Range mountains and ridges, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains, Dust Storm. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A desert dust storm obscures Amargosa Range mountains and ridges, Death Valley National Park.

Death Valley dust storms are beautiful and terrible things. They are, from an objective point of view, very unpleasant. The wind alone can make it difficult to do much of anything, especially photography. The dust gets into everything, including camera equipment and your eyes, and is a constant, uncomfortable presence. A really bad dust storm is one of those things that helpfully remind us of how small and insignificant we are in this grand landscape.

The dust storm on this late afternoon was approaching that level. Having seen a few of these in Death Valley, there were a few things that were different about this one, most notably that the wind was carrying the thick dust into place where I don’t usually see it, including far up into the Amargosa Mountain range. It was so windy and dusty in the spot where I stopped to make the photograph that I was only able to cower behind the shelter of my vehicle just long enough to make a few exposures.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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