Tag Archives: america

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

Forest, Meadow, and Cliffs

Image June 10, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A green springtime meadow near the base of steep Yosemite Valley granite cliffs.

While clear, sharp-edged light and atmosphere are great when I want to show detail and/or photograph something a long ways off, soft and low-contrast light with a bit of haze is often more evocative. That’s what you see in this photograph, made near the end of the day as the sun was low, its light filtered through afternoon haze and muting the colors just a bit.

This is not exactly an iconic spot in Yosemite Valley, but it is one that I often return to. Depending upon the season and the conditions there may be a variety of opportunities here. There’s a small meadow with a seasonal pond (flooded right now!) and it provides views of the surrounding cliffs. Forest surrounds the meadow and ascends the lower cliffs. And even though a Valley roadway isn’t far away, a short walk here brings quiet.

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: Nature

Rose Blossom

Image June 9, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A rose flower blooming.

I am not the flower photographer in our household — that would be Patty’s forte. But seeing so many flower photographs (hers in the house and online), I can’t resist trying my hand at this occasionally. In late May we headed to a large Bay Area garden to spend the morning with this subject, and I came back with a few photographs.

I find it pretty challenging to photograph these flowers. Often they are out in the full sun (I carry a sun screen), they move in the wind, and the small scale presents some focus challenges including depth-of-field issues. But sometimes the color and form of the flower seems to carry things, and the pink-blending-toward-yellow of this flower caught my attention.

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

Trees At The Meadow

Image June 8, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A line of old, tall trees next to a Yosemite Valley meadow.

This comes from my one-day trip to Yosemite Valley and back — an ordeal I tolerate from time to time when something interesting is happening in the Valley and my schedule doesn’t permit a longer visit. This time I realized that the crowds of Memorial Day weekend and beyond were days away, and that I had not yet photographed the spring runoff. There are (obviously!) some downsides to driving 400 miles round-trip, starting around 3:00AM, photographing through the day, and not returning home until after midnight. One is that there are a lot of hours between the ideal early and late light.

I made this photograph during those midday hours. While these long trips require using some of this time for necessities such as napping and eating, I do wander and photograph a bit. Although it is harder of find photographs in this light, it isn’t impossible… and, for course, a bit of meandering on trails, even easy ones, can get me away from the worst of the congestion that is a feature of the Vally during the prime tourist season.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Blue Dicks Flowers

Image June 7, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A cluster of spring blue dicks blossoms.

(Note: It has been brought to my attention that I may have misidentified these flowers as blue dicks. I’m checking on it and plan to update. For the record, I’m far, far from being an expert on flower identification!)

These beautiful – but oddly-named — wildflowers are all over the place in the San Francisco Bay Area during the spring months. They first appear during that magical period when the tall grasses are intensely green from winter rains, and then they stick around as the hills begin to turn brown or, as we like to say in California, “golden.” While I see these flowers every season, this was a banner year for them.

I often find individual blossoms or small groups blooming at the end of long, swaying stems. I like to photograph them from the side, often with some appropriate foliage background. But this group was so large and positioned low enough that I could photograph straight down into this nature bouquet, with its flowers in varying shades of blue and splayed out in all directions.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: america

Forest, Meadow, and Cliffs

Rose Blossom

Trees At The Meadow

Blue Dicks Flowers

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