Category Archives: Photographs: Northern California

Photographs from Northern California

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Wildflowers, Rocks, and Grass

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Wildflowers, Rocks, and Grass
Flowers and new grass at the beginning of the “green season” in the Sierra Nevada foothills

Wildflowers, Rocks, and Grass. Sierra Nevada Foothills, California. February 28, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Flowers and new grass at the beginning of the “green season” in the Sierra Nevada foothills

Today I went for a hike — not in the Sierra Nevada foothills but in a place where some of the same seasonal cycles are found. The hike took me up to a ridge, where I followed a trail along its crest. It was hot and dry, and the hills were covered by brittle, brown grasses. That’s how summer works in much of California. People who come here from the east or the north are often taken aback by what looks like a dead and dry landscape, and they may not be able to see the beauty in it.

But it isn’t that way all year. In fact, during winter, when many of those green-in-summer places are freezing or buried under snow, much of California erupts into what I call the “impossibly green season.” Believe it or not, this photograph was made in February in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Snow was still falling in the higher mountains, and it would continue to do so for several more months. But here in the low hills along the western edge of the range, winter rains had resurrected the grasslands and caused the wildflowers to bloom

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

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pedestrians, Night

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Pedestrians, Night
Nighttime pedestrians at a Chinatown street corner

Pedestrians, Night. San Francisco, California. July 25, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Nighttime pedestrians at a Chinatown street corner

I’m back with another colorful night street photograph this time. This one is from last summer, when a group of us met up to wander around parts of downtown San Francisco on a lovely evening. We eventually ended up in the Chinatown area, some photographing the environment there and others — like me! — photographing the people who were visiting.

This is more or less just a photograph of people walking by at a street corner. However, there are bits and pieces that I think are interesting. In the larger scale, the scene is a wild and complex arrangement of colors and patters, made more intense but he effect of the electrical lighting at night. There are several lines and planes of interest in the photograph, at least the way I look at it. And line extends from the back of the foreground figures, though the family on the corner (with the young girls in their interesting jackets), and on through the man walking away behind them. I’ll leave it to you to find others…

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Winter Dawn, Sacramento Valley

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Winter Dawn, Sacramento Valley
Winter clouds at dawn above the Sacramento Valley

Winter Dawn, Sacramento Valley. Great Central Valley, California. January 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter clouds at dawn above the Sacramento Valley

Today it is close to the end of June, the start of the hot season in California, and it has been nearly 100 degrees where I live and hotter than that where I made this photograph. It is, at it is every year, hard to believe that it was only months ago that I was out in this spot on a freezing January morning, with snow-covered peaks to my east and west, watching the first dawn light on these spectacular clouds and listening to the sounds of early morning flights of migratory birds across the wetlands.

For this I will get up at 3:00 am and drive three hours in the pre-dawn darkness. I had not visited this location before, and as I turned off of Interstate 5, the main artery up this valley, and headed east on a two-lane road I wasn’t sure what I would find. The sky was beginning to glow and it seemed that sunrise was coming soon — perhaps too soon for my arrival. I turned off onto a gravel road and headed into this refuge, passing the entrance and heading out onto the perimeter road just in time for this astonishing morning light show.

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

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Gate and Harbor

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Gate and Harbor
Closed gate and shadows at South Beach Harbor, San Francisco

Gate and Harbor. San Francisco, California. May 20, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Closed gate and shadows at South Beach Harbor, San Francisco

Up early and on the train to San Francisco on a sunny spring morning, I got off at the SF Caltrain Station and began walking along the waterfront. This is familiar territory to me, since “train walks” are a somewhat regular event for me, especially during spring and summer. I get off the train and slowly wander in one or another direction on foot, taking time to look. Sometimes it turns into and out-and-back walk, and sometimes something like a loop. (The latter is what happened on this morning.)

I decided to hear toward the bay, past AT&T Park and then along the waterfront. I angled over toward the South Beach Harbor, mainly because of the luminous and intense light coming across the bay as the fog began to clear — so bright that it was almost impossible to look directly into it. As I passed the harbor this shadow fell across the walkway, so I stepped back and shot straight into its shadow, with the harbor and the bay behind.

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 | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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