Trillium plants beneath the redwood forest canopy at Muir Woods National Monument.
This is another of the previously overlooked photographs from a few years back, this time from Muir Woods National Monument in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I visit there frequently, and on this occasion I arrived just after the bloom of the trillium flowers had finished, but when the plants were still growing strong.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
A bed of ferns grows at a trail junction under deep redwood forest cover at Muir Woods National Monument.
This photograph was made in the late winter of 2009, during that time of the year when the redwood forest is still very wet and cool, but when flowers are blooming and spring is clearly on the way. The location is along the very popular (and often quite busy) main trail along the creek through the central part of the park. No doubt I had to wait a bit for the combination of these beams of light and no other visitors on the trail!
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“Forest, Gazos Creek” — A dense mixed redwood and maple forest along Gazos Creek, California.
Today I used the excuse of driving my son over the hill to UC-Santa Cruz for his summer school class to get in a short trip up the coast north of Santa Cruz. We are in the midst of the “June gloom” period along the coast of northern California, and the fog doesn’t clear until later in the day, and never does clear completely in some areas. As I left Santa Cruz the fog bank was visible but well off-shore, but as I travelled north I eventually encountered it right around Año Nuevo State Reserve.
I had a vague plan to check out Gazos Creek Road, having heard from some other photographers that there are interesting redwood trees and other subjects in that area. Since I still had some time, I turned up the road and it quickly narrowed as it followed the creek and the bottom of the canyon into the Santa Cruz Mountains. Since this was more or less a scouting trip, I drove all the way to the end of the road without stopping much, but on the way back down I decided to stop and make some photographs of this grove of new-grown coast redwoods mixed with the curving trunks of big leaf maple trees.
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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
Detail view of the convoluted textures of the bark of a coast redwood tree, Muir Woods National Monument.
I’m fascinated by the patterns of tree trunks and bark, and I often try to find ways to make photographs of the thick and rugged bark of coastal redwoods – but not always with a lot of success! The subject is trickier than it seems at first. Even during the daytime these forests can be quite dark – and occasional beams of direct light pose their own problems along the lines of harsh shadows. When shooting close up, relatively small apertures are needed since some amount of DOF is required to get the closest parts of the thick bar, and the deeper parts along the frame edges decently in focus. Low light and small apertures means long exposures, and even a bit of air movement will move leaves, bits of grass, or (in the case of this photo) spider webs. And when a bit of interesting filtered light does make it down through the forest canopy, it is often there and gone within a few seconds. (On this same day I came across a beautiful shadow on the side of one redwood that included the shapes of some nearby alder trees. It was wonderful! It was also gone 10-15 seconds later when I got my camera into position!)
I photographed this bit of bark shape and texture along the main trail at Muir Woods on this late-April morning. As is my usual plan, I had arrived very early – before the park actually opens – and was able to wander around without the typical crowds that appear once the post-breakfast tour buses arrive from nearby San Francisco. In this spot it was quite dark, but there was just a bit of filtered and reflected light to bring out the textures and colors of the redwood bark.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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