Give the Sacramento Valley for Christmas

Looking for a great gift? Under the Endless Sky: Landscapes of California's Sacramento Valley is the perfect gift if you want to share the beauty of the north state with friends and family.

Under the Endless Sky showcases the sometimes hidden beauty of the Sacramento Valley and the north state in beautiful color photography.

Including images from the mountains surrounding the valley (including Mt Shasta and Mt. Lassen), to the farms and fields that make up the valley floor, all the way to the Sacramento Delta, Under the Endless Sky shows the the Sacramento Valley in ways that few ever see it.

From the introduction:

For most people, the Sacramento Valley is not a beautiful place. To them, the valley is only what they see through their windshield as they rocket up the Interstate at 80 miles an hour in their rush to get through its oppressive summer heat to some cool, green destination in Oregon or Washington. And what they see are endless flat miles of dusty fields and orchards: rice, tomatoes, corn, almonds, olives and walnuts. Hot, boring, flat and repetitious.


But the Sacramento Valley is a true California landscape in its own right. It is a landscape not of wild rock or majestic forests, but of emerald rice fields under an endless blue sky and of golden sunsets reflected in the placid Sacramento River. It is a landscape of farms and of rolling hills; a peaceful and pastoral landscape, reminiscent of a California long gone in other parts of the state.


As a photographer, my challenge has been to find these places, to delve beneath the dusty, bland exterior that the valley shows to casual visitors, and to record the unseen beauty that hides in full view under the endless sky.

Under the Endless Sky is available at blurb.com for $34.95, plus tax and shipping.

Under the Endl...

Landscapes of Cali...

By Anthony Dunn

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Hallmarks of the Sacramento Valley: Winter Waterfowl

The Sacramento Valley is one of the premiere wintering sites for birds on the Pacific Flyway. According to Ducks Unlimited, between 1 and 3 million ducks, geese and swans winter in the Sacramento Valley. But more than just ducks and geese winter in the Sacramento Valley. Everything from egrets and herons to ibises, stilts, and pheasants winter in the valley. There are times when the sky is literally dark with birds.

Starting in October, and continuing through March, the flocks of birds that inhabit the refuges and rice fields are a hallmark of the Sacramento Valley - and can be used to great effect in publications and Websites to communicate the unspoiled natural environment of the Sacramento Valley.

I made a recent trip to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge to record some of the wildlife. It wasn't my most successful trip, but here are a few of the more interesting images:

Female green heron

Ducks at Sunset

Snow geese in Flight

See my full selection of wildlife photos on my main Website. Here are some images from other visits to the refuge:

Snow Geese in Flight

White-faced Ibis

Snowy Egret

Great Blue Heron

Snow Geese at Sunrise

Though the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge near Willows is one of my favorite places to go, there are many other refuges, both federal  and state, in the valley to visit.

Fall in Chico's Bidwell Park

Bidwell Park is the jewel of Chico, and one of the best seasons to visit and photograph the park is during the fall when the trees are changing color.

As a result, I've made an effort to visit the park several times over the past couple of weeks to record the changing seasons. There is still color in the trees in the park; hopefully I'll get a chance to visit at least once more before the leaves fall.

These photos say a lot about the natural environment of Chico and the north state, and can be used to communicate the lifestyle of Northern California. These images could be used by any business promoting the quality of life in Chico and Northern California, including banks, realtors, local business, job recruiters, or anyone trying to demonstrate that Chico is an attractive place to do business and live.

Here are a few images from my recent visits:

Mt. Shasta - Recent Shoot

Mount Shasta is without a doubt one of the most dramatic landmarks in northern California, and a popular icon of the north state. Many of my images of Mt. Shasta have been used in calendars, business cards, websites, magazine covers, mural-sized prints, and many other publications.

A few weeks ago we had our first real storm of the season and I decided that the resulting snowfall on the mountain would make for some nice additions to my catalog of Mt. Shasta images, With winter rapidly approaching, my clients need fresh seasonal images of Mt. Shasta and our region. This shoot was a good chance to get a head start.

On my main website, you can view my full catalog of Mt. Shasta images, but here are a few from my most recent trip:

My strategy for shooting Mt. Shasta is fairly simple: try to keep the sun at a 90° angle to the camera view of the mountain, shoot in either the very late afternoon or early morning, and try to find interesting foregrounds to contrast with the mountain.

Ready for Winter?

Winter is coming and my clients always have a need for images that evoke winter and the holiday season in our region. I have a wide variety of winter season landscape images from northern California, including the Sierra Nevada, Mt. Lassen, Mt. Shasta and the Sacramento Valley.

Here are a few choice images from my stock selection.

For a complete list of winter-themed photos, visit my main website.

New Contract for Electronic Slideshow

I just landed a contract to provide a local bank with 80 images for an electronic slideshow that will be displayed on high definition TVs in branches throughout their region (mostly northern California). This looks like it will be an ongoing relationship since they want to be able to swap out images seasonally to keep pace with the current season.

The idea of the slideshow is to provide beautiful images with strong regional flavor to customers waiting in line for a teller. Personally, like everyone, I hate waiting in line. At least some nice images would make the time go by a but quicker, so I think this is a great idea.

I'm including a few of the images here to give you an idea of the regional flavor they were looking for. Images were all cropped to fit the display dimensions of a 1080P HD TV.