Sunrise, Fog, And Birds. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Geese and cranes in a fog-filled sunrise winter sky above California’s Central Valley.
Many places in California that were once quiet and lonely and even overlooked or forgotten have become, at times, busy and crowded. I write here not just about well-known and iconic locations along the coast, in the cities, at national parks, but about places that might seem like nothing special at all to most people at most times. The issue, of course, is that there are so many of us now. But I have learned that it is often possible to sneak in around the margins and still find solitude. In some places that means going on days when others won’t be there, arriving when most people are still asleep, picking conditions that keep lots of people away. Arriving before dawn in dense fog on a freezing morning at a distant place that isn’t scenic can do the trick.
This was one of those days and one of those places. You could find a scene like this at innumerable spots in the state on a foggy morning, but you might have to get up before 4:00AM, wear extra clothes, drive through that fog, and then understand that you’ll pay a price in less-than-astonishing conditions on many mornings… in order to earn one on which the sun rises through thick tule fog as thousands of birds wheel overhead.
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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