Tag Archives: winter

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman Photographing Brick Wall

January 13, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A woman stands on a bench to photograph a brick wall along the High Line Park, New York.

I made this photograph on a winter’s day walk along the High Line Park in western Manhattan — the increasingly well-known park that extends along the abandoned path of an old elevated railroad bed. The park is very popular, and even on a winter day there were many, many people out walking along it, and the surrounding neighborhoods were also filled. Of course, there is a lot going on in this Chelsea neighborhood — the Whitney Museum is now open at the southern end of the park, there are lots of restaurants and more along its length, and the north end now terminates at the busy construction site of the Hudson Yards.

When I made the photograph I probably wasn’t thinking consciously about much or than the possibility of isolating the figure of the woman, engrossed in making a close up photograph the bricks, against the small and large patterns of the background wall, with the slight natural intrusion of the tree at the right edge. Later I thought about what she was photographing, and how most people might simply wonder what the heck she sees there, in a place where there is nothing apparent to photograph. This might be a bit of a metaphor for lots of photography, where the act of capturing “something you see” defines your world and presents a personal vision of it to others. And I still do like the complex set of interlocking patterns of the wall, the wooden structure, the window, and the single figure.

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: Wildlife

Bald Eagle

January 12, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A bald eagle perches atop a snag

I don’t see these birds very often, since they don’t seem to hang out much in the areas where I typically photograph. I believe that I have seen them in areas north of California in the past — I’m pretty certain that I made some (unsuccessful) attempts to photograph them in the state of Washington a few years back. Most of the large raptors that I see around here are hawks, and I get to photograph them somewhat regularly. But eagles? No.

But this week I travelled a bit further north than where I usually go to do my winter bird photography. Instead of heading more or less east from the South Bay Area, I got up very (very!) early and made a long drive north up into the Sacramento Valley, where I visited several refugees that I had not been to before. As I was coming around one large area of ponds and paying attention mostly to ducks and (lack of) geese I remembered to look up into the trees — as I do when looking for hawks in my more familiar surroundings. And there right in front of me was the beautiful bald eagle, sitting high up in this tree at the top of a single branch, unobscured by any other branches in the tree, and silhouetted against a cloudy winter sky.

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 Morning, Sacramento Valley

January 11, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter clouds and morning fog, Sacramento Valley, California

I’ve been driving through California’s Great Central Valley (composed of the northern Sacramento Valley and the southern San Joaquin Valley) for decades, on my way too and from the Sierra and on travels north toward the Pacific Northwest and south toward Southern California. I confess that for many years it was just a place to pass thought on the way to someplace else, though years ago I began to develop an affinity for the sensations that came from driving across on a hot summer evening on the return from the Sierra or from slowing down for the winter fogs on the way to/from ski trips. And then I became away of the winter migratory birds, almost by accident, and I started regarding the winter valley as a destination rather than a route, and I have gradually come to appreciate the place itself.

This has also been (yet another) opportunity for me to relearn an important photography lesson, namely that it isn’t so much about going to distant exotic places (though I’ll do that, too, when I can) as it is about slowing down and paying attention to what there is to see wherever your are. And once I did that, this place that was little more than “the place I drove through” has become the subject. This photograph came on a short trip that I made with the goal of pushing out the boundaries of my experience in the Valley a bit. This time I headed further north up the Sacramento Valley to visit some areas that, frankly, I didn’t know existed until I started researching a bit. This area shares a lot with the more familiar locations where I photograph birds and landscapes every winter — the birds, the immense sky, the flat landscape, water everywhere — but it turns out to have its own personality, too. The birds are similar but not identical. (I photographed bald eagles here for the first time in California.) I saw snow-covered hills to my west in the dawn light. A small and isolated group of mountains rose to the east. And there was water everywhere, far more than where I photograph further south, and a surprise to anyone who has ever visited this area during get hot, dry summer months.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Dawn Clouds, Sacramento Valley

January 9, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn clouds above the winter landscape of the Sacramento Valley

I have been meaning to visit some new locations for California Central Valley winter photography of migratory birds and of this huge place. I love my familiar stomping grounds in an area closer to where I live, but I keep hearing reports of locations further north along the Pacific Flyway. I decided that this is the winter to begin that wider exploration. Some of the locations I have in mind are far enough away that they will require overnight stays, but this one is (just barely!) within range for a day trip. A very long day trip.

Up many (almost four) hours before dawn, I quickly filled a thermos with coffee, made a sandwich, grabbed quick breakfast, loaded the car, and hit the road. I drove east and north out of the San Francisco Bay Area in darkness, and eventually was heading north up the Sacramento Valley on I-5, still in the dark. I had in mind an area a good distance up the Valley where there are many wildlife refuges and lots of water… and, as a result, the potential to find lots of migratory birds. It is a bit of an adventure trying to locate some of the reserves in the dark, particularly if you haven’t been to them before, but I found the first one as the sky was beginning to lighten and I drove before dawn. At this point the next morning ritual is always to stop the car, put on the warm clothes, unload the camera gear, and get everything set up. I headed out into the grounds of the refuge just as the first light was hitting the precursor clouds of an incoming Pacific weather system high above the valley, and this is literally my first photograph of the day.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: winter

Woman Photographing Brick Wall

Bald Eagle

Winter Morning, Sacramento Valley

Dawn Clouds, Sacramento Valley

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