Images

Photographs: Nature

Last Year’s Leaf

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Last Year's Leaf
A solitary autumn cottonwood leaf hangs on a branch against a spring-green background.

Last Year’s Leaf. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary autumn cottonwood leaf hangs on a branch against a spring-green background.

The beginning and ending of photography days are often the busiest times. It isn’t that you cannot make photographs all day long, but the light is often most interesting at these moments and things tend to change more quickly. After an early morning start and hours of intense photography, it is almost inevitable that there will come a moment when everything slows down. On this morning I decided to stop what I had been doing (photographing birds) and wander down a short trail past some ponds.

I am often surprised by what I see when I step back from what I am photographing and slow my pace. I really didn’t think I would see anything photographically interesting on this little walk, but almost immediately I came upon bare cottonwood branches holding last year’s dry leaves, their withered and nearly monochromatic forms backed by newly sprouting green grasses and blue sky.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Three Cranes, Winter Sky

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Three Cranes, Winter Sky
Three sandhill cranes fly against blue winter sky.

Three Cranes, Winter Sky. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three sandhill cranes fly against blue winter sky.

During the first week of March it occurred to me that the end of the winter migratory bird season in California is approaching — and that it might come earlier than usual this year due to warmth and drought. So I headed out to look for birds, even though my preferred foggy conditions were not in the forecast. Since the daylight hours are rapidly increasing, it was a longer day that it would have been a few weeks ago — the sun now is up an hour earlier!

It seems to me that the behavior of the birds changes at this point in the season. Larger groups seem more likely to congregate, and they seem more active throughout out the day. That was the case this time, and I saw all kinds of geese, plenty of sandhill cranes, and lots of other birds including ibises, egrets, herons, redwing blackbirds. At one point I paused near large groups of cranes and waited (mostly) patiently for groups of them to periodically lift off and fly past my position.

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 and Amazon.

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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: Nature

Ivy Leaves

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Ivy Leaves
Leaves of ivy plants growing on a brick wall.

Ivy Leaves. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Leaves of ivy plants growing on a brick wall.

The other photographer in our household, Patricia Emerson Mitchell, often focuses on small things, especially close-up and macro photographs of foliage and flowers. Most of the time we work separately, though sometimes we have an excuse to photograph together. At times her subjects and mine are found in the same places, and other times each of us may explore the other’s native territory. That is how this photograph came about.

Patty frequently visits a beautiful formal garden at a location on the San Francisco Peninsula. She goes often enough that she has a membership, and she knows the cycles so well that she can predict what will be in bloom. She went this past week for daffodils and camellias (and a few other things), and I went along. too. I believe that photographing a bit outside my comfort zone makes me a better photographer, so I was game to photograph flowers… with a macro lens. I was distracted by a brick wall where ivy grows. I have photographed it before, but the soft, shaded light seemed especially nice this time, and I love to work with the subtle tonalities of this subject in monochrome.

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 and Amazon.

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: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Great Egret

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Great Egret
A great egret stands in a shallow wetlands pond.

Great Egret. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A great egret stands in a shallow wetlands pond.

Great egrets are many things. They are beautiful in flight, slow and purposeful, with a flare of wings while landing that is always graceful. They are also remarkably common, and here on the west coast you can find them almost everywhere — along freeways, at the ocean, in fields, beside creeks. They are skillful and effective hunters, quietly and intently approaching prey until, with a sudden extension of the long neck, they grab their prey.

Photographing them can be an odd experience. Sometimes a standing bird (in water like this one, or on land) may allow a close enough approach to almost fill the frame using a long lens. At other times they have strict personal boundaries and will suddenly take flight if you get too close. Often they don’t fly far away, but photographing this is awkward since one is almost photographing the bird from behind as it departs. This specimen stood still in the shallow water, and I had so much time to photograph that it was still there when I finished.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.