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.
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.