Detail, Summer Grasses

August 22, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Close-up photograph of summer grasses growing at Castillero Pond, California.

A second photo in the sequence I made on this morning at Castillero Pond in the Calero Hills oak/grassland in northern California. (The terrain and plants are typical of vast areas of central California as well.) These large grasses were growing along the edge of the pond. Unlike most of the grasses, which by now have gone completely dry in California, there were still mostly green since they had the pond as a source of moisture.

I made what might strike some as an odd lens choice for this series. Virtually all of them were shot with a 100-400mm zoom at 400mm. The idea was to get a very narrow depth of field and then throw both foreground and background way out of focus. Sometimes people think that the only way to do this is by using lenses with very large aperture, but an equally (and in some cases more) effective method is to use a very long focal length. This can provide even nicer bokeh than the large aperture approach in many cases.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: calero, hills, santa clara, county, park, morning, summer, grass, flora, pond, castillero, plant, nature, california, usa, macro, close-up, stem, twig, blade, green, brown, yellow, shadow, bokeh, dense, texture, curve, pattern, dry, stock

News

Plant ID’ed?

August 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

@ljellis tweeted that the plant misidentified in my photo as “cattails” might be “Harding grass,” or halaris aquatica. Looks and sounds reasonable to me from the description I read online as to the form of the plant and where it grows.

The disappointment is that it is described as an “invasive species” – that can’t be good! But, darn, I still like the photo. If anyone else has further info on this, or a confirmation of the identify of the plant, I’d welcome hearing from you.

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.

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Stories

About plant identification…

August 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

In case it isn’t already obvious, I’m a complete non-expert at this task. It seems that I have completely (or, “totally,” as my botanist sister writes… ;-) misidentified the plant in today’s photo.

When it comes to plant identification, I’ll readily admit that I’m far, far, oh so far, from being an expert. In one sense I know a lot – I can often recognize a plant or flower from many previous encounters. I often know exactly when and where it will grow and when it blooms, and I know where to find certain odd and unusual plants.

But when it comes to naming them, I’m often at a loss. Best case, I remember the common names of some that I’ve gotten to know over the years. More typically, I know the plant as “the one with the long stem, pointy leaves, and yellow flowers.” Worst case, I make a wild guess. As I did with the “cattail” photos.

If anyone can give me an accurate identification of this plant, I’ll be very grateful. Scientific names are fine, but common names are also great.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Cattails, Morning Light

August 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Summer cattails in morning light at Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California.

OK, this time no alpine scene from high meadows near the crest of the Sierra – instead a cattail growing along the bank of a small pond perhaps ten miles from my home at a place where I frequently hike. This morning I decided to get up early and head out here with no particular photographic goal in mind. When I arrived at the pond I thought I might photograph some birds – in fact, I just missed photographing my local egret, which flew away just as I was getting out my camera. So, instead of photographing the birds – and instead of continuing on for a longer morning hike – I spent more than an hour here photographing the cattails and patterns of summer grasses in the morning light.

Yesterday I visited SF MOMA to see two photographic shows – the photographs of Richard Avedon in one and the photographs of Ansel Adams and paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe in the other. As I looked at the out of focuse patterns of grasses, such as those in the background of this photograph, I thought about the colors and patterns of the O’Keeffe paintings.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.