Category Archives: Photographs: Northern California

Photographs from Northern California

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

Overlapping Ferns

Leave a comment
Overlapping Ferns
Overlapping ferns grow close together in the springtime redwood forest

Overlapping Ferns. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Overlapping ferns grow close together in the springtime redwood forest

Late in the day, a bit early for golden hour but late enough to start thinking about it, I visited a short trail in Del Norte State Park, along which there was the promise of a few rhododendron blossoms and many, many redwood trees. It was an easy trail, gradually ascending and traversing a low ridge through the forest, and then beginning a descent that led to the beach. Since I was interested in the redwoods and not the beach, I stopped just past the beginning of the descent.

The lighting conditions were just about perfect — thin clouds muted and diffused the light, and it came into the forest from the west at a low angle, side-lighting the redwood trees. While I mostly was there to photograph big, obvious things like blooming rhododendrons and the redwood trees, this forest was full of smaller details, too. As I started back up the trail to return to where I started I saw some thick groups of ferns and I stopped to take a look. This little scene immediately caught my attention, with its nearly symmetrical layers of fern fronds leading down toward the forest floor.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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

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

Sea Stacks, Cliffs, Sunset

2 Comments
Sea Stacks, Cliffs, Sunset
Coastal cliffs, sea stacks, and beach reflecting the light of a Northern California Pacific Ocean sunset

Sea Stacks, Cliffs, Sunset. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Coastal cliffs, sea stacks, and beach reflecting the light of a Northern California Pacific Ocean sunset

This photograph illustrates — as do so many others! — the many situations in which a photograph is the result of some combination of planning, experience, patience, “seeing,” and just plain good luck. In the morning I had photographed a few hours north of here at Prairie Creek Redwood State Park. As I worked that area, in the back of my mind I was calculating the driving time (plus eating and photographing time) that would put me at a particular spot along the coastline above Fort Bragg a bit before sunset. It is a spot that I have photographed before and one that both challenges and appeals to me. I knew the features of the spot, but there was no way to know what the conditions might be — in fact, I thought there was a pretty good chance that it might be fogged in.

As I approached this area, passing through inland mountains, it was apparent that fog was going to be an issue. Even inland the coastal fog was obscuring the upper slopes. Arriving at the coast I found “blah,” gray light. But there I was, knowing that this would be my last stop of the day, so I thought I might make something work in black and white. Then I noticed something interesting — the fog bank ended in the distance to the northwest right along the coastline, and right along the horizon there was a thin band of glowing, reflecting water. It occurred to me that this thin band would likely expand toward my position as the sun dropped toward the horizon, and that there could be a short period of special light. Before long the glow on the water came closer and the nearby waves began to pick up some sunset color. Then, as the bottom of the sun started to emerge below the edge of the cloud shield, the mist began to glow and the sun’s light came directly at me between the shadows of sea stacks, something can happen only for a few days during a brief interval or two each year… and only on days when the coastal weather conditions permit it.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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

Leave a comment
A quiet trail though old-growth redwood groves.
A quiet trail though old-growth redwood groves.

Redwood Forest Trail. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A quiet trail though old-growth redwood groves.

One of my loose goals on this trip to the Redwood National and State Parks was to scout a bit. This was such a new area to me that I did not have illusions about finding the very best subjects right away, and I regard a first visit like this one as being the start of a longer photographic relationship with the place. In other words, I wanted to photographer then and there, but I also wanted to start to know the place, with an eye to future return visits.

With that in mind I visited four of the parks that comprise the larger state and national park collective. Time will tell if my initial impressions are correct, but each park seems to have a different and somewhat individual character. My last stop in the area, on the morning when I began my drive to a locations further south, was the Prairie Creek State Park. The great old-growth redwood trees are impressive wherever you find them, but it seemed to me that here they were even more so. After photographing some alder trees along a roadway, I moved on and selected a trail to hike, making the choice based more on hunch than anything else. I wandered slowly up a canyon filled with the giant trees as broken clouds moved changing light across the scene.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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

Ridges and Redwoods

2 Comments
Ridges and Redwoods
Old-growth and second-growth redwood forests on successive ridges

Ridges and Redwoods. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Old-growth and second-growth redwood forests on successive ridges

The drive from my location in the San Francisco Bay Area to the Redwood National and State Parks is a long one. One can either take the slower, shorter, and arguably more scenic route up US 101 or the faster, longer, and less visually interesting way up Interstate 5. On this visit, my first serious foray into these parks, I went up 5 to Redding, then headed west for another 3 hours to reach the coast, and finally turned north towards the actual Redwood National Park.

I have previously mentioned that I usually don’t exactly over-plan when I visit a new location, preferring to give myself a chance to discover things on my own terms. (To be honest, I’ve been accuses — accurately — of under-planning!) By the time I arrived it was too late to do a lot of scouting, so I headed up into the park to a well-known grove, made a brief stop there, and then continued on up a tiny, twisting road. Eventually I arrived at a large hilltop clearing, probably the unfortunate left-over of decades-earlier clear-cutting but today offering an expansive view across valley and hills in the very late afternoon light. Just below me was a ridge topped by second-growth trees, in the middle distance was a less-accessible ridge with huge old-growth trees, and on the far side of the valley the effects of that old clear-cutting is still visible.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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