Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Conifers, Snow, Cliff

June 21, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A group of conifer trees at the edge of a meadow during Yosemite Valley snow flurries

During the two-plus months of my Yosemite Renaissance artist-in-residency in the park I made hundreds of photographs. Some of those made it into a show that is now going on at Gallery 5 in Oakhurst, on the southern park boundary: “Transitions: Winter Into Spring — Yosemite Renaissance Artist-In-Residence G Dan Mitchell And Friends.” (The show continues until the end of this month, and it features the work of several fellow artists I invited to join me: Jerry Bosworth, Franka Mlikota Gabler, Charlotte Hamilton Gib, David Hoffman, Vidya Kane, and Kerby Smith.) I mention this because I am still working on photographs from this project even now — and this is one of them.

I made this photograph on a mid-April day when winter seemed to want to hang on just a bit longer. Near the start of this visit a small but energetic weather front swept through, raising the wind, dropping the temperature, and leaving behind a layer of new snow. I made this photograph as the storm passed, with snow flurries muting the features of more distant trees and the huge granite cliffs beyond. The snow also mutes the colors, and unless you look closely you might mistake this for a monochromatic photograph.

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

Ferns, Creek, And Forest

June 20, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ferns growing along the banks of a redwood forest creek.

One of my goals on this trip to the Redwood National And State Parks region was scouting. I often arrive at a new location — and this are was new to me — without doing a whole lot of advance research. This means that I’ll engage in a bit of semi-blind wandering at first, but it also means that I get the thrill of discovery instead of going just to well-known spots. I knew that Jedediah Smith Redwoods Park was supposed to have rhododendron blooms and, of course, redwoods, but I wasn’t quite sure where to look. So I poked around a bit.

The first “poking” was unsuccessful, and I ended up at a locked gate on a gravel road. I could have walked further, but on this first visit I wanted to cover more ground than walking would allow, so I back down the road and wound around to the other side of this park. Before long I did find redwood groves with blooming rhododendrons, and I spent a bit of time photographing there in morning light. As the sun rose higher the light was less agreeable, so I began exploring again, eventually ending up at another dead-end road. This time I loaded up my pack and started walking, eventually arriving at a beautiful old-growth redwood grove. I passed this little vignette of creek, ferns, and light along the way.

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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 Understory

June 19, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Smaller plants grow on the forest floor beneath the canopy of North Coast redwoods

This has become a bit of a repeating theme here recently, but this is another photograph of the dense vegetation of Northern California redwood forests — this scene is in Del Norte State Park, part of the Redwood National And State Parks system that I visited earlier this month. During my visit I was looking for rhododendrons — I found some, but it turned out that I was probably just a bit early. This trail is known for the flowers and they were there, just not in great numbers quite yet.

Sections of this trail traverse a ridge, but on either side the forest grows in coastal canyons. Here, especially early and late in the day, the light is soft and muted a lot of the time — often the ideal conditions for photographing this subject. The trees are varied, including both massive old-growth specimens and some younger trees fighting their way upwards for a bit of sun. The understory is lush, with ferns, bushes, rhododendron plants, and much more.

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

Coastline Near Klamath River

June 18, 2018 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Late-day light on the rugged coastline just south of the Klamath River

I had passed by the great Klamath River on my way north to the Redwood National and State Parks, crossing it on the long bridge just upstream from where it meets the Pacific. On that late afternoon I took a quick detour up onto a small dead-end road from which I could look back down at the river and the sandbar between it and the ocean, and I made a few photographs before moving on — I still wanted to photograph redwoods before the day ended, and I had a bit of a drive beyond that to get to my motel.

Late the next day I found myself with a bit of unscheduled time, so I returned to the Klamath, again as the end of the day approached — but this time I was not in a hurry to leave. When I had visited the day before I had looked across the river to the hills and coastal bluffs to the south, and this time I decided to explore that area a bit. A drive took me to an overlook from which there was an unobstructed view along the coastline to the south as the evening golden hour light began.

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

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Conifers, Snow, Cliff

Ferns, Creek, And Forest

Redwood Forest Understory

Coastline Near Klamath River

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