Monthly Archives: May 2009

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dogwood Blossom, Leaves, and Branches

Leave a comment
Dogwood Blossom, Leaves, and Branches

Dogwood Blossom, Leaves, and Branches. Yosemite Valley, California. May 10, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A single blossom and a few leaves on the branches of a dogwood tree, Yosemite Valley, California.

And still I continue with the dogwood theme! For quite a few California photographers who include landscape and nature among their subjects, enjoying the annual reappearance of the Yosemite Valley dogwood blooms is one of the happy traditions of spring – so enjoy! And yes, I still probably have a few more from this year’s “dogwood shoot” back in early May.

I photographed this dogwood flower with its slender branch and new leaves in a shaded portion of the upper Valley nor far from the Mirror Lake trail.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

keywords: valley; national park; usa; mountains; range; season; spring; growth; new; leaf; flower; blossom; bloom; bracht; branch; twig; sun; light; bokeh; blur; background; dogwood; tree; nature; foliage; scenic; travel; forest; grove; california; sierra nevada; travel; Yosemite; stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dogwood Blossoms and Branch

Leave a comment
Dogwood Blossoms and Branch

Dogwood Blossoms and Branch. Yosemite Valley, California. May 10, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring dogwood tree blossoms and leaves in Yosemite Valley.

Yes, another dogwood… but, hey, it is spring and the dogwoods are (or were) blooming! These were photographed in Yosemite Valley in early May of this year on an intense one-day photography trip to The Valley. I shot this one during more or less the midday hours, rather than during the more typical early/late light. However, this has its advantages, too, if one can find good shade with open illumination. The color balance at this time of day seems to go more toward balanced white and the broken and filtered light on the ground makes an interesting background.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

keywords: california, sierra nevada, travel, Yosemite, valley, usa, national, park, mountains, dogwood, tree, branch, twig, leaf, flower, bloom, blossom, bracht, petals, shade, spring, season, bokeh, blur, sun, dappled, nature, plant, tree, foliage, stock

Commentary, Locations

Best time to visit Death Valley AND Yosemite?

2 Comments

I just saw and replied to a forum post asking about the best time to try to visit Death Valley, the eastern Sierra, Tioga Pass/Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley in one trip that starts in Las Vegas and ends in Sacramento. I’m reposting my reply here since I’ve heard others ask similar questions elsewhere. Note that despite the lengthy post, this doesn’t by any means completely answer this question. So, with minor edits, here is what I posted:

When to do a trip that includes Death Valley and Yosemite Valley and everything in between? This is a very tough question.

The “best” time to visit Death Valley is generally thought to be in the November to early April time frame – but that coincides with closure of the Tioga Pass entrance into  Yosemite National Park, typically lasting from possibly (but not always) late October or mid-November until (usually) sometime in May.

So, I think it becomes a question of which end of the trip you want to compromise. Do you want to deal with Death Valley during the very hottest time or do you want to deal with the potential for a very long drive around the southern part of the Sierra (and missing the “east side”) in order to get to The Valley after the pass closes?

I travel and photograph throughout this area a lot, so let me offer some ideas. Continue reading Best time to visit Death Valley AND Yosemite? →

Commentary, Technique

How to photograph… baseball?

2 Comments

OK, I know that seems like a very odd post title for this blog! (Though I do photograph certain sports from time to time and I always carry my camera when I go to Giants games – come to think of it, sometimes the photography is more interesting than the game. But I digress…)

I mention all of this because I just read through a very informative post at the Digital Photography School blog. The post (“How to Photography Baseball”) by Darren Rouse contains almost more information than I can absorb – well worth bookmarking if you think you’ll be doing this sort of thing.