Category Archives: Photographs: Coastal Redwoods

Photographs from the coast redwood forests of California

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Redwood Forest Ferns

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Redwood Forest Ferns
Interlocking ferns beneath old growth redwood trees along the Northern California coast.

Redwood Forest Ferns. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Interlocking ferns beneath old growth redwood trees along the Northern California coast.

This photograph continues with small things seen up close, in this case a bed of interlocking fern leaves on the forest floor beneath old growth redwood forest in coastal Northern California. When I make photographs like this one I typically start out thinking something like, “It should be easy to photograph ferns.” But it never is. As soon as I zero in on a composition I start to notice little flaws in the miniature scene — perhaps an empty void in a bad spot, a leaf that is deformed, a bright spot, you name it. And the photograph that seemed like it would be a quick thing… can end up occupying a substantial amount of my time.

But there is a lot more to photograph in redwood forests than must redwood trees. That subject most certainly is worth our attention, but with such monumental trees dominating the scene it is easy to overlook the smaller things. In order to see these things I tend to wander though the forest setting very slowly, sometimes spending more time standing and looking around than walking. (I’m pretty sure I drive some of my trail companions batty this way!) I found these ferns shortly after I crossed a rise and began to descend into a valley. I stopped and probably barely moved at all for 15 to 20 minutes as I photographed them and other nearby subjects.

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: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Old Growth Redwood Bark

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Old Growth Redwood Bark
Detail of a section of the bark of an old-growth coast redwood tree.

Old Growth Redwood Bark. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a section of the bark of an old-growth coast redwood tree.

As I have posted photographs from our recent visit to the Northern California coast redwood groves I have commented at times about the various ways of seeing the redwood forest and its famous trees. In a place with a primary subject of such stupendous size it is important to remind myself to also look away from the obvious things and keep my eyes open for smaller details. (The notion that smaller details of a subject often characterize it as much as the larger things is an important idea in much of my photography.) Yes, there is a really (really!) big tree in this photograph, but you only get to see this small section.

Redwood trees, especially the ancient old-growth trees — can exhibit all kinds of individual quirks. Some lean, occasionally on other trees. Some split into more than one trunk. Some have missing crowns. Other plants infiltrate some of them. The bark patterns are among the individualizing features. While some trees have rather regular patterns, others have all kinds of unusual shapes and patterns and deformities. The patterns of this tree, which almost have a grotesque quality, caught my attention as I photographed in a quiet grove of big trees. At first I thought to include a fern growing at the base of the tree, almost treating the bark as background, but in the end I decide to exclude everything but the bark. If you are so inclined, you might have some fun making associations with some of the shapes.

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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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.

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Redwoods and Rhododendrons

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Redwoods and Rhododendrons
A lush understory of rhodendron trees beneath coast redwoods, Del Norte Redwoods State Park.

Redwoods and Rhododendrons. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A lush understory of rhodendron trees beneath coast redwoods, Del Norte Redwoods State Park.

This year we mostly missed the peak rhododendron bloom. It can be a little tricky to time this just right, especially when we only had about five days to visit the area. This year we targeted a part of the calendar during which we had good luck a couple of years ago… but this time the bloom was not as widespread. My suspicion is that this was due to some combination of the natural variations in timing plus the fact that this year California and the west are in a very serious drought. And while the redwood forest looks (and is) a lot wetter than other parts of the state, it is drier there than in most typical years.

I’ve thought a lot about the best ways (a distinctly plural concept!) to portray these giant forests. Because of the tree’s remarkable height, the first instinct is to somehow capture that full skyward stretch. There are ways to do this, but typically this requires getting some distance from the trees and perhaps finding an opening into a grove or simply photographing a whole section of the forest from outside its boundaries. You could photograph straight up into the canopy, too. A few years ago it occurred to me that one way to suggest the immense height of the trees is to not show it, but to intentionally leave out the upper part of the trees and let the gigantic trunks imply the invisible height. Here I also wanted to include and emphasize the lush undergrowth with some very healthy-looking rhododendron plants in the foreground.

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.

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Redwood Forest Trail, Rhododendron Flowers

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Redwood Forest Trail, Rhododendron Flowers
Rhododendron flowers liine a trail through Northern California redwood forest.

Redwood Forest Trail, Rhododendron Flowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rhododendron flowers liine a trail through Northern California redwood forest.

Late on this June day we went back to this trail that we had visited earlier. We knew that the rhododendrons were in bloom here, that it featured a dark and thick forest, and that there could be glowing light from the west at this time of day. We entered the forest as the light was diminishing — which happens here well before sunset — and hiked a short distance to scope out the possibilities.

As the light began to diminish we turned back toward the trailhead, which was not far away, and we walked back through lush growth and past a section of forest thick with those seasonal blooms. I stopped here to photograph, noticing the graceful branch arching above the trail and the flowers beyond — but also because it seemed like such a typical scene along the trails of these forests, with soft-light, plenty of quiet, and growth everywhere.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

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