Tag Archives: wetlands

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Fog and Morning Light

Image Leave a comment
Fog and Morning Light
Tule fog covers a Pacific Flyway wetlands pond as morning sun begins to break through high clouds.

Fog and Morning Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tule fog covers a Pacific Flyway wetlands pond as morning sun begins to break through high clouds.

This was one of the foggier mornings I’ve spent out along the Pacific Flyway, and that wasn’t the only unusual thing about the weather. Driving out here hours before dawn, most of the route was clear of any fog. But when I turned off the highway onto a narrow country road the fog was instantly so thick I could barely see to drive. As I continued it varied, sometimes thinning a bit, but always shallow enough that I could look up and see the setting full moon. I arrived at my destination if foggy darkness and headed out to make photographs.

On a typical morning, even when it is quite foggy, the light changes when sunrise colors arrive a one the fog. But high clouds kept this morning kept the light at bay and it remained gray. Eventually the tule fog thinned enough in a few spots that the higher clouds occasionally became visible for a moment, and weak sunlight sometimes made it though the murk. I made this quiet photograph during one of those moments when the fog began to glow just a bit.

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.

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. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Three Trees, Sunset Clouds

Image Leave a comment
Three Trees, Sunset Clouds
Three trees and sunset clouds reflected in a Central Valley pond.

Three Trees, Sunset Clouds. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three trees and sunset clouds reflected in a Central Valley pond.

As we approach the end of 2021, here is (another) photograph from the last day of 2019, made on the last New Year’s Eve of the Before Times. It is strange to think back to the end of that year, when we certainly were well aware of challenges in our world — but when we had no idea of what was about to come. The subject of the photograph is an astounding scene of light and sky that formed late in the day. So many of these scenes are the result of coincidences that are far beyond our control — the light, the weather, the wind, where you find yourself and more. Often nothing out of the ordinary happens. But if you are there often enough, eventually you will almost certainly encounter something astounding.

As I saw this scene developing I stopped what I had been doing — photographing migratory birds — and turned my attention to the landscape. Since much of the scene was the sky itself and its reflection, the only real compositional decisions had to do with frame boundaries and what else might be in the scene. I found a place where I could get close enough to the water to fill the lower frame with reflections, then identified these trees as a potential visual focus, and I simply began making photographs as the light evolved. You may have seen another photograph from this evening that shared recently. I don’t think that there is one right way to portray such a scene, so I ended up with at least three ways of seeing it.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Click post title to visit post page and comment if you are viewing the site home page. 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.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Central Valley Winter Sunset Clouds

Image 2 Comments
Central Valley Winter Sunset Clouds
Sunset clouds above a Central Valley winter pond.

Central Valley Winter Sunset Clouds. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset clouds above a Central Valley winter pond.

Recently, as we approached the end of 2021, I revisited some photographs from around New Years day of 2020, the last New Year’s of the Before Times. As is our tradition, a group of us met to spend a couple of days photographing winter subjects, pausing to raise a toast to the New Year following a few hours of early morning photographing on the first day of the new year. If you are focused on your New Year’s Eve party plan, it may be difficult to understand, but I can’t imagine anything better than greeting the literal dawn of the new year in a wild place, accompanied by friends.

We have met on New Year’s Day for a few years, but more recently some of us have expanded our celebration to begin the day before. So we were out there photographing on New Year’s Eve Day, right into the twilight hours. Sunsets can be exactly what you expect them to be, but sometimes they toss something unexpected and remarkable your direction. That was the case on this evening, when a combination of the passing tail edge of a weather front, still air, and a very colorful sky combined to create a rather remarkable set of conditions. It was one of those moments when it almost feels like I just have to point the camera and push the shutter button. (OK, there’s a bit more to it than that, but at least the primary subject is plainly obvious.)

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.

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.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Wetland Trees

Image Leave a comment
Autumn Wetland Trees
Trees with autumn golden leaves against a foggy sky in California’s Central Valley.

Autumn Wetland Trees. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees with autumn golden leaves against a foggy sky in California’s Central Valley.

Yesterday I travelled down the Central California coast to photograph in what I think of as the upper Big Sur region, going as far as about Big Creek. I was originally thinking that I might have a new photograph from that endeavor to share today, but it did not quite happen. (Stay tuned though, I’m sure there will be something eventually.) So today’s photograph is a fall color subject that has been sitting on my computer for a while, awaiting its turn for sharing.

The photograph comes from a beautiful early December day, during the end of the “before times” when we could travel more freely. It was one of my first forays out into the Great Central Valley that autumn, largely to look for migratory bird arrivals but also to photograph the landscape. Light in this place is a tricky thing and can often be challenging. It can range from “blah” flat light through bright and harsh light, to fog so thick that you cannot see through it. There are ways to photograph in all of these, but they aren’t always easy. But every so often nature offers up some just plain beautiful light like I had this day. Diffused sunlight was striking the nearby trees with their autumn leaves, while the more distant sky was darkened and deepened by some fog and haze.

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.

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.