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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Silo Walls

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Silo Walls
Metal silo walls, California Central Valley farm land

Silo Walls. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Metal silo walls, California Central Valley farm land.

On the first day of November I made my first bird photography foray of the fall season. In a way it was almost an accident. I had to deliver three prints to the Sandhill Crane Festival in Lodi in the morning, and since I was getting on the road quite early anyway I figured that I could try to be at one of the crane locations by dawn on my way there. Arriving more or less as the first sunlight came over the horizon, I opened my car door and heard that amazing and wonderful sound of the migratory birds. There’s nothing quite like it!

I photographed just a bit — the photography wasn’t going to be an all-day affair this time. Then I continued on the narrow backroad, heading further away from the main highway and on into the agricultural country. I stopped at this collection of silos, which I have photographed in the past, and this time thought I’d move in close and photograph details and juxtapositions rather than the larger scene.

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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Events, Locations, News, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife, Shows

Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival

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Every November there is a Sandhill Crane Festival in Lodi, California, celebrating the return of these marvelous birds. I’ve been meaning to enter some of my crane photographs for the past few years, and this year I finally did. Here are the three photographs appearing in the art exhibit at the festival.

I made the first one, “Cranes and Geese, Winter Fog” on a marvelous February morning a while ago. I had never seen so many birds at once, nor seen them quite this active. On top of that, the tule fog was just beginning to break up, and the atmosphere was luminous.

Cranes and Geese, Winter Fog
A foggy San Joaquin Valley winter landscape filled with geese and cranes

The second is “Two Sandhill Cranes in Flight,” a juxtaposition of two of the birds against the blue winter sky.

Two Sandhill Cranes in Flight
A pair of lesser sandhill cranes in flight above California’s San Joaquin Valley

Finally, “Taking Flight, Sandhill Cranes” is a photograph of a group of cranes taking off from a shallow pond and heading toward the faint light of the rising sun on a very foggy morning.

Taking Flight, Sandhill Cranes
A group of sandhill cranes takes to the morning sky above foggy marshland

If you are curious about these birds and want to know more and you life in Central California, a trip to the Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival this weekend can get you started. In addition to the art exhibit, there are lectures and guided tours to some of the nearby locations where you can find these birds. And the birds are there — I saw thousands of them this 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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Bare Aspen Thicket

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Bare Aspen Thicket
Stark trunks in a dense and nearly bare aspen thicket east of the Sierra Nevada

Bare Aspen Thicket. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Stark trunks in a dense and nearly bare aspen thicket east of the Sierra Nevada.

This isn’t the first time I’ve recounted the story of this photograph — it is one of a few that I made on a morning that took us to a high location east of the Sierra where photographs of the nearby aspens ended up being a bit more successful than the anticipated long shots of the Sierra crest at dawn. We were — of course! — up and on the road from our Eastern Sierra camp before dawn, heading east from US 395 into the high desert country. It was cold — below 10 degrees Fahrenheit along the way — and we arrived to find the atmosphere a bit too affected by wildfire smoke that muted and colored the long views in ways that were not quite what we had in mind.

Fortunately, as is so often the case, there were other things to see and photograph. Among these subjects was this thick grove of aspen trees standing in a broad valley below our position. These trees had actually been the other subject I was thinking of when I headed to this spot but, as I suspected, they were well past their prime autumn color. (Some trees out this way change color earlier than those in the Sierra.) But the dense pattern of light colored trunks and branches, with but a few remaining leaves, provided an interesting and complex subject before the direct dawn sunlight arrived at this location.

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.

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

Photographs: People, Photographs: People In Landscape, Photographs: Photographers

Charles Cramer In The Field

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Charles Cramer In The Field
“Charles Cramer In The Field” — Photographer Charles Cramer at work in the Eastern Sierra Nevada backcountry

I made this photograph of friend and photographer Charles “Charlie” Cramer at work in the John Muir Wilderness this past summer during our (more or less) annual group foray into the backcountry for a week or so of photography. I think that several of us found ourselves in more or less this spot… because backlight is wonderful and the sun was just clearing the ridge on the other side of this small lake.

For those who may not know about such things, a word or two about some elements of the photograph. The little rectangular object in his hands is a so-called “framing card” or “framing tool” — a very useful thing to have when you are looking for compositions, since it literally puts a frame around what you are looking at. (There are several jokes about these objects. For example, you really need to carry two of them — the landscape- and portrait-mode versions. And why does Charlie carry larger versions than I use? His are appropriately sized for medium format photography, while mine are for full frame cameras.) And what’s with Charlie standing in the bright sun without a hat! “Welllll…” (as he might say)… the hat was in use just a moment earlier as a sunshade to block stray light from the front of the lens. All joking aside, one wonderful side benefit of going into the field with other photographers is that we often manage to photograph one another!

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.