Tag Archives: wings

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Pelican in Flight, Sunset

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Pelican in Flight, Sunset

Pelican in Flight, Sunset. Pacific Coast, California. September 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary pelican in flight at sunset over the Pacific Ocean coastline of California.

Yet another in the pelican series I shot along the California coast north of Santa Cruz on a September evening earlier this year. The glow of the sun on back of the pelican’s head and the light shining through its wings intrigue me, along with the very faint dividing line between the pastels shades of the ocean and the sky in the background.

To find out a bit more about where and how I made this series of photographs, take a look at yesterday’s post.

keywords: pelican, bird, sea, shore, pacific, ocean, coast, wildlife, nature, flight, fly, wings, california, usa, highway, one, evening, sunset, stock

Photographs: Unclassified

Blue Angels in Black and White

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Blue Angels in Black and White

Blue Angels in Black and White. San Francisco, California. October 11, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

OK, now for something entirely different.

My original plan was to be in the eastern Sierra today on Saturday, patiently photographing peaceful and quiet aspen groves. But driving conditions did not look promising and I decided not to go. (I did go for the day on Sunday, but more on that later.) In any case, instead of shooting aspens I found myself on the waterfront of San Francisco Bay watching an air show featuring the Blue Angels, here photographed as they blew past directly overhead at a rather low altitude.

See, I can photograph things that move, too! :-)

Later note: Several people asked about the equipment I used to shoot this event. I used a Canon 5D with the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS lens. I shot mostly at 400mm, but was glad to be able to zoom out on a few occasions when the action was a bit closer. My technique is to put the camera in burst mode, but usually just fire a single shot at a time. Most of the time I’m definitely not a “burst and hope for the best” sort of photographer – I’ll actually follow the action through the viewfinder and resist the temptation until the shot looks interesting. But not always. This shot was done in burst mode as the formation screamed almost directly overhead.

keywords: san francisco, california, usa, fleet, week, air, show, airshow, bay, event, stock, blue, angels, air craft, jet, aerobatics, formation, wings, us, navy

Photographs: Wildlife

Two Gulls In a Row

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Two Gulls in a Row
Two Gulls in a Row. Pacific Coast, California. March 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two gulls follow one another along the edge of a bluff along the California Pacific coast, flying past my position at eye-level.

I made a series of photographs of birds from this spot – the images that have been appearing recently included. To get these I followed a strategy that can work well in some places along the California coast: spend a few minutes figuring out the “line” that the birds follow along the end of the coastal cliffs, apparently looking for updrafts. Then set up close to or under one of these invisible paths, sit quietly, and photograph like mad as the birds fly by.

keywords: two, gulls, sea, seagulls, birds, in, row, follow, fly, flying, flight, pacific, ocean, coast, california, usa, bif, wings, sea, shore, shoreline, sky, nature, animals, wildlife, stock

Photographs: Nature

Gull in Flight, Pacific Coast

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Gull in Flight
Gull in Flight. Pacific Coast, California. March 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A lone gull in flight over the Pacific Ocean along the California coastline. This is another in the series I shot on March 1 from the top of the coastal cliff north of Santa Cruz. This bird flew past a bit lower than some of the others, so the background here is the ocean surface.

keywords: gull, sea, seagull, shore, coast, shorebird, sea, seabird, shoreline, california, usa, pacific, ocean, fly, flight, flying, wings, bif, nature, wildlife, nature, stock, bird