Tag Archives: white

Photographs: Nature

Tidy Tips

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Tidy Tips
A tidy tips flower, above a bed of baby blue-eyes.

Tidy Tips. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tidy tips flower, above a bed of baby blue-eyes.

My relationship with things that require naming is… complicated. I photograph birds, but I only know the identities of a few particular types that I photograph. I’ve never been able to recall the names of the various trees of California, aside from the most obvious ones. And flowers have always been a problem. I may know the flower by sight, I might be able to tell you when and where to find it, and it is possible that I can even describe the plant it grows on. My naming the flower? Not likely. At best, I can manage to keep track of the popular names of a few of the most obvious and familiar types — California golden poppy, paintbrush, shooting star, and a few others.

But this one I know is called “tidy tips.” (Unless someone is pulling my leg…) The name seems to make sense, and I presume that it refers to the striking pattern of the yellow center and the white tips of the petals. I photographed this specimen in a central California meadow in early April, when this years spectacular bloom was at its peak. The flower is an individual specimen, but it grew among many, many thousands of other flowers including the baby blue-eye that appear in the background.

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: Wildlife

Birds, Sunset Clouds

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Birds, Sunset Clouds
Birds fly in a cloud-filled winter sky

Birds, Sunset Clouds. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Birds fly in a cloud-filled winter sky.

This seems to be largely a photograph of sky, but if you look a bit closer you’ll see lines of birds spread across its width. It is a winter sky, looking west very late in the day, just after the sun has set, and the birds are departing in that direction. Surprisingly, the largest group of them are white pelicans, birds that I usually don’t encounter in quite such large numbers. There are a few sandhill cranes mixed in here and there.

As with some much “nature” photography (here I’m also thinking of landscape subjects) a lot happens very quickly at the margins between day and night, the time when arguably the most interesting light is available. Closer to the middle of the day things tend to change more slowly and there may be more time to contemplate. But during that time between not-enough-light-for-photography and middle-of-the-day stability, the conditions are in constant flux, and it is “now or never” for many photographs. In this image an additional dynamic element was added as I timed the exposure to place the birds beneath the curving shapes of the clouds.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Pond

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White Pelicans, Pond
A row of white pelicans swims sedately in clearing morning fog

White Pelicans, Pond. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A row of white pelicans swims sedately in clearing morning fog.

White pelicans seem to keep to themselves at the locations where I photograph birds. I’ve gotten to know a few small groups here and there, and I’ve noticed a few things about them. During a season they seem to establish a “home base” and stick to it — and I can almost be certain to find them at the current year’s location. They stick together in groups of perhaps a few dozen, spending a lot of time clumped together near the water, seemingly doing next to nothing. In the morning they frequently fly out after many other birds have already done so. And because their groups are relatively small, these fly-outs happen quickly.

This group was a little ways from its usual spot on this day. They had swum — or perhaps more accurately, floated — across a large pond and eventually drifted quite close to me. Their passage was quiet and sedate, with little movement above the water line. Eventually they arrived at whatever point they had selected, and before long there were headed back the way they had come.

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Clouds

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White Pelicans, Clouds
Four white pelicans in a cloud-filled California late-autumn sky

White Pelicans, Clouds. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Four white pelicans in a cloud-filled California late-autumn sky.

My timing was fortuitous on this morning. The white pelicans usually congrats in groups that appear to contain a few dozen individuals. The often stay more or less in one place for long periods of time, but eventually they decide to move. They take off in long strings of individuals, generally flying past not too far off the ground. This happens suddenly, and if I’m not in the right spot, rather than being close enough to photograph them I watch the brief spectacle from a distance. On this day I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time.

I think of the white pelicans as being special. Perhaps most people wouldn’t, being mostly familiar with white versions of the bird. But I had a long acquaintance with the coastal brown pelicans before I ever realized that the white version was found locally. I’m sure they were around, but someone I didn’t notice — today I see them in quiet coastal waters, in inland ponds, and more. But even today, the coastal birds seem familiar and conventional to me, while these white birds still seem a bit exotic.

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.