Tag Archives: winter

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Morning Clouds, Dormant Tree

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Morning Clouds, Dormant Tree
Morning sky filled with blue clouds behind a winter-dormant tree, Central Valley, California.

Morning Clouds, Dormant Tree. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning sky filled with blue clouds behind a winter-dormant tree, Central Valley, California.

This photograph is from New Yea’s Day morning, when a small group of us met in a wild place to photograph birds and, a bit later, to break out goodies and champagne to toast the arrival of 2023. The day was a rousing social success… which made up for the overall less-than-thrilling photographic conditions. It was far from a “bust,” but moments of good light were separated by many more with gray skies and wind.

This complex tree is an “old friend” of mine — a tree that I see many times each year. Every time I pass I think about how to photograph it and realize that it isn’t an easy subject! My most successful efforts have been in fog, when details of the scene are muted and the background disappears. On this day I had some unusual colors and light to work with — the blue-toned sky and the more colorful breaks in 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Headlands, Cliffs, and Winter Surf

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Headlands, Cliffs, and Winter Surf
Wiinter surf breaks along a wide beach at the base of coiastal cliffs and headlands, Big Sur Coast.

Headlands, Cliffs, and Winter Surf. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Winter surf breaks along a wide beach at the base of coiastal cliffs and headlands, Big Sur Coast.

Even after decades of exploring and photographing along this section of the California coast, I still find new viewpoints on almost every visit. I don’t know that there is an actual infinity of such places, but there surely are enough of them to keep one busy for an entire lifetime. As I drive along the Coast Highway I’m constantly on the lookout — sometimes to the distress of my passengers — for a new pull-out, a trail leading toward the bluffs, a high point that might provide a view, a variation on a view that I’m familiar with.

On this January visit I passed this area twice as the result of looping back to check out another possible location. So when I approached the second time I was thinking about this wide beach and trying to spot a place that might overlook it. I stopped and made a short walk out to this camera position — staying even farther than usual away from cliff edges, given their less-than-reliable condition after all of the recent rain!

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Wetlands, Before Sunrise

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Winter Wetlands, Before Sunrise
Wildly colorful winter pre-sunrise sky above California Central Valley wetlands.

Winter Wetlands, Before Sunrise. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Wildly colorful winter pre-sunrise sky above California Central Valley wetlands.

When I recently shared a different photograph of this same sky and tree, I mentioned that I might share a different version later on. This is that different version. (More in the next photograph about why I posted both versions.) The scene is a few minutes before dawn somewhere in California’s Central Valley, on a day when the clouds of the next approaching weather front were just starting to fill the sky in the early morning. Because the storms come from more or less the west (behind and to the right of the camera position), the sky remained clear far to the east beyond the Sierra, and the early light was able to illuminate the leading edge clouds of this front.

As I wrote in the earlier post, the intensity and saturation of the pre-sunrise color was more or less unbelievable. In fact, I assumed that at least some viewers of the photograph would think that I had simply pushed the saturation slider “to 11.” (Actually it would be to 100, but you get the idea.) But that’s not what happened here. There are a few hints in the photograph. The most obvious one here — and it was missing in the earlier photograph — is that fascinating patch of normal-looking blue sky in the upper left.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Cliffs, Beach, and Winter Surf

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Cliffs, Beach, and Winter Surf
Coastal cliffs, beach and winter surf near Rocky Point, Big Sur Coast.

Cliffs, Beach, and Winter Surf. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Coastal cliffs, beach and winter surf near Rocky Point, Big Sur Coast.

In an earlier post describing another photograph from this recent visit to the Big Sur coast I mentioned that it included virtually all of the features found in “typical”many landscape photograph from this location, with the point arguably being, “what more could I ask for?”. The truth about this visit was a bit more complicated. It was, indeed, a wonderful morning on the coast — but it also was not exactly easy photography. There were objective challenges posed by the recent heavy rains and the closures and damage they brought. But the light was also a challenge, especially when the haze became thick.

However, that same haze did thin from time to time, transforming dull and flat light into something soft and lovely — directional sunlight muted by passing through high clouds and thin fog. I spent a bit of time at the location of this photograph, and during much of it the fog was thick enough to choke off that light. But for a moment or two the fog shifted and thinned and there was enough light to create shadows and open up the scene 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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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.