Images

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Trees, Fog

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Winter Trees, Fog
Tule fog surrounds a stand of. barren winter trees, Central Valley.

Winter Trees, Fog. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tule fog surrounds a stand of. barren winter trees, Central Valley.

Something tells me that California Central Valley residents might disagree with me when I say that the winter tule fogs are among the biggest attractions of the region. I understand that days (or weeks!) of the gray can be depressing, and I’ve heard the stories about traffic accidents in zero-visibility fog. It is wet. It s cold. You can’t see through it. It interferes with travel.

But I love the mystery that the tule fog brings to this area. On clear summer days this is a broad, flat landscape that is largely agricultural. That has the potential to give it a bucolic quality, but the nature of modern Central Valley agriculture is that it also borders on an industrial process. But when the fog rises the world shrinks down to a radius that might be measured in yards rather than miles, more distant distractions disappear, details are muted, and the shallow but thick layer of fog glows luminously on a winter morning.

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: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans, Sunset Light

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White Pelicans, Sunset Light
A small flock of white pelicans clusters together, rellected in a wetland pond at sunset.

White Pelicans, Sunset Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small flock of white pelicans clusters together, rellected in a wetland pond at sunset.

One of the things I like about white pelicans is that they were always here, in the places I frequently visit, and I somehow managed to remain completely unaware of them for decades. I have long known about and photographed brown pelicans along the California coast, but I had no idea that they had cousins in California, too. My ignorance of them was so great that the first time I saw white pelicans, far off in the distance in thick fog, I speculated that they might be some kind of strange goose or perhaps swans. That sounds ridiculous, as I soon understood when I saw them more clearly. And once I saw the first flock they magically appeared in other locations I had long visited.

I’ve seen them everywhere from coastal areas to inland waterways and ponds. This group hangs out at an inland location, and I’ve seen them or their relatives off in the distance many times, usually just hanging around on small islands like this one. When I’m lucky I manage to be under their flight path as they take to the air. But this group had taken up residence on this little bar, close enough for me to photograph them very late in the day, only minutes before sunset, while I was on my way to another spot.

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

Wetlands, Winter Sunset Sky

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Wetlands, Winter Sunset Sky
Clouds from an approaching winter weather system above Central Valley wetlands at sunset.

Wetlands, Winter Sunset Sky. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds from an approaching winter weather system above Central Valley wetlands at sunset.

Who can resist a winter sunset sky, a reflecting pond, a few bits of vegetation, and distant mountains? I know I cannot. Recently I have written about sunsets several times — once to describe one that surprised me at the end of a rather gray day and another that, well, stayed gray. On both of those occasions I had little idea about how the sunset would turn out, but I stuck around just to see what, if anything, might develop. This time the event was almost predictable. The front edges of a Pacific weather front was approaching, and the line of clouds had been visible for a couple of hours. I almost hate to admit it, but I showed up in this spot only above five minutes before sunset.

In addition to their colorful attractions, sunsets like this one speak to Californians in an additional way right now. It has been (again!) a very dry start to our wet season, and after too many recent drought years we are getting a bad feeling about this winter. So these clouds, signaling something other than more “perfect” blue sky weather, are exciting in their promise of the potential for 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.

Blog | About | 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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: San Francisco

Bay Reflections, Morning

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Bay Reflections, Morning
Bronze morning light reflects on the surface of San Francisco Bay and silhouettes Alcatraz and Treasure Islands.

Bay Reflections, Morning. © Copyright 2013 Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bronze morning light reflects on the surface of San Francisco Bay and silhouettes Alcatraz and Treasure Islands.

Happy New Year! Let’s start 2021 with a sunrise. 2020 was a year we all want to put behind us as soon as possible — to move on as a country, to get through the worst of this pandemic and see vaccines take effect, to travel again, to see friends and relatives in person, to eat out and go to concerts and, all in all, perhaps find a bit of normalcy once again. So, perhaps the best wish is: Happier New Year!

The photograph is of San Francisco Bay, photographed not long after sunrise on a very early spring morning a few years ago. The conditions were a bit unusual — prevalent thin fog rather than the more typical strands of the stuff. I photographed directly toward the rising sun, capturing the metallic colors and textures of the Bay waters along with Alcatraz Island, Treasure Island, and the far shores of the East Bay.

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 | 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.