Winter Trees. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Two bare trees and new winter grasses in a foggy Central Valley pasture.
This is a familiar and welcome scene at this time of year in many places in California — bare trees in a winter pasture, cloaked in fog that is just beginning to clear. It surely is not what most world regard as an iconic California photograph — no rugged coastal cliffs, giant redwood trees, granite Sierra peaks, or desert sand dunes. But if you live in this landscape such scenes are at least as representative.
So, despite its non-iconic character, there are a number of things here that I identify with. Let me share a few of them. Note that crop of new green grass beneath the nearer tree. Many who visit California are struck by how brown it is during the tourist season — but they came at the wrong time. Our winter is the green season, as the rains start the plants growing between now and spring. Also, despite all of the classically remarkable California landscapes, these agricultural scenes are probably more typical — grassy areas interrupted by occasional large trees. This photograph is also a reminder for me that there are photographs everywhere, even in what we might think of as mundane landscapes.
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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