Images

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Landing

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Landing
A group of snow geese landing on a wetlands pond on a foggy winter morning.

Landing. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of snow geese landing on a wetlands pond on a foggy winter morning.

These conditions are perhaps my favorite for photographing migratory birds — thick fog that is beginning to clear, allowing just a bit of directional light to illuminate my subjects at times, but still thick enough to to block out distant distractions. These are transitory conditions, like a sunset or skiable spring snow. You need to be there and ready, and get to work quickly when the right light happens — it won’t last long!

Here in California we can typically find these conditions this time of year in many, many places — at the coast, along the shores of bays and lakes, next to rivers, all up and down the state. This photograph comes from the Great Central Valley, that place we tend to regard mostly as agricultural country, stitching hundreds of miles from Southern California to just below Mount Shasta. I had gone on this day because I knew there would be fog — the birds are less of a certainty. As the fog thinned and the light increased I found this spot and worked it as the conditions changed.

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: New York City, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brandon In Manhattan

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Brandon In Manhattan
Brandon Mitchell on the streets of Manhattan

Brandon In Manhattan. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brandon on the streets of Manhattan.

This is, technically speaking, a family photograph. This is the oldest of our three “kids,” in a photograph I made near the end of December, along some street somewhere between Midtown and Lower Manhattan as we took a very long afternoon and early evening walk in New York City.

He has been in Manhattan for, well I’d have to look it up so let’s just say “a long time.” Could it have been a decade now? Because our two sons and their wives (along with Patty’s brother and his family) live in New York City, we are fortunate to have an excellent excuse to visit the place at least once per year or so. While it is impossible for visitors like us to really know the place, we feel comfortable with great swaths of this city now, and it is among my favorite places to photograph.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake, Mountains, Evening Light

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Lake, Mountains, Evening Light
Evening light over a small alpine lake and tall mountains deep in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, Sequoia National Park.

Lake, Mountains, Evening Light. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light over a small alpine lake and tall mountains deep in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, Sequoia National Park.

This photograph takes me way back, almost a decade ago, to a long Southern Sierra pack trip with a great group of fiends. We came in over a high Sierra crest pass, then a couple of days later crossed an even higher pass (that doesn’t cross the crest), and dropped into some of my favorite Sierra Nevada backcountry in a place where we walked for miles through broken and rocky terrain before finally descending to the first trees we had seen since early that morning. We camped, and the next day we headed further into the backcountry, to an area where far fewer backpackers are found.

I made this photograph in a truly magical place where we camped that night. It was one of the few spots I’ve been to in the range where I could almost imagine that I was camping in a spot that no one had previously visited. (I know better, but it was isolated enough to feel that way.) We saw no one other than the members of our own little group fo three that day, that night, and into the next morning. This evening photograph looks across a small alpine lake toward a towering and rugged range that is not, despite its appearance, the Sierra crest.

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: New York City, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

Balloon Vendor

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Balloon Vendor
A Manhattan street vendor selling balloons.

Balloon Vendor. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Manhattan street vendor selling balloons.

There was a lot going on in the vicinity of this colorful little Manhattan scene. It was a few days after Christmas, during the period between then and New Year’s Day when it seems that tourists and other visitors take over the sidewalks and streets of New York City, at least in the most popular areas. This is one of those areas, right near Rockefeller Center. Basically, the sidewalks were packed with people and at times it was difficult to move forward.

Along this block there were many street vendors, selling the usual assortment of Manhattan items: cheap knock-off watches, umbrellas and warm hats, food, souvenir shirts, and balloons. The balloons, leaning into the passing crowd, were quite a colorful diversion. That aside, as I see the street vendors I always wonder who they are, how they make a living doing this, and what sort of lives they must lead… and how all of that fits together in a place like Manhattan.

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.