All posts by G Dan Mitchell

G Dan Mitchell, photographer and visual opportunist focusing on the Pacific coast, the Sierra Nevada, redwood forests, California oak/grasslands, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography and more. Posting daily photographs since 2005, along with articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

California Golden Poppy

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California Golden Poppy
A single specimen of a California golden poppy flower.

California Golden Poppy. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A single specimen of a California golden poppy flower.

Any California photographer is obligated to photograph the California Golden Poppy. Check the contract — it is right there! It is the state flower and it is found just about everywhere in the state with few exceptions. More recently, as folks around here have moved away from having water-reliant lawn and towards drought-tolerant landscaping, the poppy is showing up in more and more yards. I’m sure I could find a dozen places to photograph them within a five or ten minute walk from my house.

They are called (at least sometimes) “golden” poppies, but they aren’t exactly gold. The color is more orange, though it sort of “leans” a bit toward yellow. If you look up the flower on wikipedia, you’ll find a wonderful description from John Steinbeck’s East of Eden: “California poppies … are of a burning color—not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of poppies.” They aren’t easy to photograph, at least in part because of this unusual and intense color. This one cooperated more than most, opening its petals toward me in somewhat soft light.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Storm Clouds Above The Crest

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Storm Clouds Above The Crest
Dark clouds beyond the crest while morning light shines on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada.

Storm Clouds Above The Crest. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dark clouds beyond the crest while morning light shines on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada.

This should be a fine photograph in this series made in early morning light in the eastern Sierra Nevada above Bishop, CA. The morning began before dawn in extremely soft and blue-tinted light. Then the first direct light came through a narrow gap between the White Mountains and the clouds behind me and gradually spread down the escarpment of the Sierra. I continued photographing as this process unfolded, and by the time I made this photograph the direct light had arrived at my location and the deep golden color of the dawn light was dissipating.

Locations like this one are among the best to understand the immense size of the Sierra and the height of the crest. Far behind my camera position and quite a bit lower lies the Owens Valley, but even from this higher vantage point the steep faces of the peaks are formidable. On this morning the clouds added another dimension to the show. Up higher, above the area of this composition, gently curving clouds mirrored the shapes of the ridges. Below those clouds lay the dramatically dark form directly above the peaks, as seen in the photograph.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fairy Lantern

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Fairy Lantern
A fairy lantern (globe lily) flower, photographed in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area

Fairy Lantern. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fairy lantern (globe lily) flower, photographed in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area

It is difficult to come up with a rational explanation for why some wildflowers particularly catch my attention, but it is fact that some do. I have a short list of Sierra Nevada wildflowers that will always cause me to pause and look more closely. In a particular area of the Northern California hills that flower is this one, the fairy lantern or globe lily.

Somehow I managed to hike for decades in these hills before I “discovered” this flower on a hike through a small valley one spring while visiting the non-urban park that is closer to me than any other, a place where I’ve gone for spring “conditioning hikes” since I can remember. One time a perhaps two decades ago I took a different route through this spot and was enchanted by these mysterious flowers. Now I mark the onset of spring here by their appearance. They aren’t really easy to photograph since they don’t open up energetically, and you must get down low and photograph them from a bit underneath to reveal the flower — and the colors are subtle and easily washed out by any bright light.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Mendocino Bay, Morning

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Mendocino Bay, Morning
Waves wash onto the shoreline of Mendocino Bay on a foggy morning.

Mendocino Bay, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Waves wash onto the shoreline of Mendocino Bay on a foggy morning.

Recently I returned to the photographs from this visit to the North Coast of California, on which we spent a few days in Mendocino. This little town presents an interesting dichotomy between the old-school funky, hippiness of that part of the state and the semi-yuppified element that has grown in more recent years. In a sense, you “see it all” in this place.

On this visit we stayed in town, not more than a couple of minutes walk from the bluffs overlooking the bay just south of the peninsula on which the town sits. On this morning we wandered over there in the morning before the morning fog and haze had completely clearer, and I made a series of photographs looking inland along these bluffs to the outlet of the river that drains into the bay.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.