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.

Ivy Leaves

Ivy Leaves
Leaves of ivy plants growing on a brick wall.

Ivy Leaves. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Leaves of ivy plants growing on a brick wall.

The other photographer in our household, Patricia Emerson Mitchell, often focuses on small things, especially close-up and macro photographs of foliage and flowers. Most of the time we work separately, though sometimes we have an excuse to photograph together. At times her subjects and mine are found in the same places, and other times each of us may explore the other’s native territory. That is how this photograph came about.

Patty frequently visits a beautiful formal garden at a location on the San Francisco Peninsula. She goes often enough that she has a membership, and she knows the cycles so well that she can predict what will be in bloom. She went this past week for daffodils and camellias (and a few other things), and I went along. too. I believe that photographing a bit outside my comfort zone makes me a better photographer, so I was game to photograph flowers… with a macro lens. I was distracted by a brick wall where ivy grows. I have photographed it before, but the soft, shaded light seemed especially nice this time, and I love to work with the subtle tonalities of this subject in monochrome.


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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Great Egret

Great Egret
A great egret stands in a shallow wetlands pond.

Great Egret. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A great egret stands in a shallow wetlands pond.

Great egrets are many things. They are beautiful in flight, slow and purposeful, with a flare of wings while landing that is always graceful. They are also remarkably common, and here on the west coast you can find them almost everywhere — along freeways, at the ocean, in fields, beside creeks. They are skillful and effective hunters, quietly and intently approaching prey until, with a sudden extension of the long neck, they grab their prey.

Photographing them can be an odd experience. Sometimes a standing bird (in water like this one, or on land) may allow a close enough approach to almost fill the frame using a long lens. At other times they have strict personal boundaries and will suddenly take flight if you get too close. Often they don’t fly far away, but photographing this is awkward since one is almost photographing the bird from behind as it departs. This specimen stood still in the shallow water, and I had so much time to photograph that it was still there when I finished.


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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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.

Christmas Day, Central Park

Christmas Day, Central Park
Visitors congregate in Manhattan’s Central Park on Christmas Day.

Christmas Day, Central Park. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors congregate in Manhattan’s Central Park on Christmas Day.

As I have previously written, we spent a week in Manhattan right around Christmas and New Year’s Day, mainly with family visiting in mind but also, of course, to see Manhattan and other parts of New York City. We have visited during this season many times, and we’ve seen quite varied weather. The time before this we experienced recording-breaking cols, but this time the weather was hardly cold at all — the light and atmosphere looked winter-like, but temperatures were 20 or 30 degrees above what we experienced on that earlier visit.

On Christmas Day we took a long walk up the east side of Central Park, then crossed it before heading back down the west side. To no one’s surprise — this being Manhattan! — even on Christmas Day there were crowds everywhere. This large collection of people in Central Park may have been around a frozen pond, though the clear skies and sunlight took the edge off of the cold this time.


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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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.

Narcissus Flower

Narcissus Flower
An early season narcissus flower.

Narcissus Flower. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An early season narcissus flower.

While flowers, especially the sort growing in formal gardens, are not my typical subject, I enjoy photographing them from time to time for several reasons. First and foremost, they are fascinating and beautiful subjects, and by looking at them closely enough to make photographs I see them in ways that I would otherwise miss. They are also a challenge, encouraging me to think in a different visual manner than what is perhaps my native mode. In a related way, I think this expands and improves my visual flexibility and ability to see photographically.

I photographed this flower on a visit to a nearby garden with Patricia Emerson Mitchell. This kind of photography IS her native mode, so I’m more or less following along on these forays. It was still mid to late winter at this San Francisco Peninsula location, but the garden was already filled with color from daffodils.


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.

Blog | About | Flickr | FacebookEmail

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.


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