Tag Archives: white

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

Egret on the Hunt

January 18, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An egret hunts in marshland grasses, San Joaquin Valley, California

On this foggy late-December morning I was in this spot mostly looking to photograph sandhill cranes. It seems that the cranes are often a bit shy in the early morning and I often am not able to get too close to them — I try, but they tend to be a bit off in the distance except when they are in flight, and then they typically diverge a bit when they see me. There were lots of cranes on this morning, but they were by the ponds near the more distant trees in this photograph. (If you look closely you can probably spot a few of them.)

Egrets, on the other hand, are often not that far from my route. Out here they tend to be found along creeks and ditches or out in grassy areas where they can hunt, which is what this one was doing. While the egrets are spectacular in flight — with their slow, swooping trajectories and huge wingspans — they may actually be more interesting to watch when they are hunting. They seem to be very careful and very patient hunters, often sneaking up on their prey slowly. Along the way they may stop in some awkward pose, perhaps standing almost still aside from a bit of neck “rocking” or the slow movement of a foot. Then the neck stretches a bit and suddenly the bird stabs its small prey. This bird was hunting in grasses very close to a gravel road, so I remained in my vehicle to photograph it as it looked for its breakfast.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Geesescape, Evening

January 13, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Large flock of geese, airborne and on the ground, during the evening fly-in

On New Year’s Day, a small group of photographers and friends met at a San Joaquin Valley wetlands location, to welcome the first dawn of the new year and to spend a day photographing birds and the misty Central Valley winter landscape. If nothing else, the necessity of getting up at 4:00 AM on New Year’s morning tends to ensure that we keep the partying to a minimum the night before!

The day began with photography in tule fog, which soon cleared enough to allow the sunshine in. We shot all morning and then took a break for lunch in a nearby town before returning for the late-afternoon and evening light. You never know for sure what the geese will do. They might not show up, they might be there in small numbers, they might land in an inaccessible area… or you might be treated to the sights and sounds of many thousands of them in close proximity. We weren’t sure how this evening would turn out — earlier the geese had played a bit of a game of hide and seek with us. But as the evening wore on it became more apparent that there were a lot of geese about and that they were flying in to a large pasture area that was quite accessible. The time of the evening fly-in is a time of a lot of action. Small flocks join those already on the ground, and there is an almost constant coming and going of birds. A huge flock may be on the ground, only to be spooked by something and suddenly and noisily take to the air. Or them might begin to move, a few at a time, from one location to another, often flying very low. At the time of this photograph, many geese decided to land very close to our location, and at times it was hard to pick out a

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman Walking, Brick Building

December 16, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A woman carrying a cup walks past the front of a red and white brick building

I think I made this photograph west of Central Park, but no guarantees. (I could probably figure it out by reviewing the photographs before and after this one, but it doesn’t seem too important. Let me know if you disagree!)

This is representative of one way I shoot urban subjects. I’m pretty certain that what happened here first was that I saw the interesting colors and forms of the tall building, with its red bricks and pure white trim, steps, and neat black fence. I also saw the juxtaposition of the irregular and natural forms of the two trees (and a few other bits of greenery) with the rigid and angular forms of brick and trim. No doubt, at about that point I saw the woman walking up the street — so I framed the photograph and waited for her to enter the frame, timing a quick series of three shots as she passed in front of the building carrying her cup of coffee, an iconic signifier of the new urban resident.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Thicket, Eastern Sierra

October 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fall color in a dense aspen thicket along an eastern Sierra creek

The exact location of this grove probably doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t seem necessary or even useful to reveal it here. With just a bit of looking about you can find many groves that are equally interesting all over the Sierra Nevada at this time of year, but especially on the east side of the range. I had seen this grove from a distance in the past, and once or twice before had thought to approach it on gravel roads. In fact, it is possible that I actually did visit or drive past at some point in the past. But for no particularly logical reason, on this trip I spotted it again from a distance and decided to go there and poke around.

In addition to its relative inaccessibility and lack of popularity, this grove has a couple of other things going for it. Many of the Sierra aspens tend to be somewhat small and not always straight. Such trees do have a special charm and I photograph them all the time. However, to be honest, sometimes California aspen photographers can be just a bit jealous of those groves of giant, straight and tall trees that seem to be more common in some other western states. This grove has those trees — tall and straight and towering above. In also has one of the densest examples of undergrowth that I’ve seen in the Sierra. My initial idea was to walk deep into this grove in the late afternoon as the light diminished, but I quickly figured out that this wasn’t likely given the dense bead of overlapping fallen tree trunks, thick brush, and thorn plants. So instead of trying to get through that jungle, I changed my mind and decided to make it the subject of the photograph instead.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: white

Egret on the Hunt

Geesescape, Evening

Woman Walking, Brick Building

Aspen Thicket, Eastern Sierra

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