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Photographs: Nature

Pink Tulip

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Pink Tulip
A pink tulip photographed against a background of dark greenery.

Pink Tulip. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A pink tulip photographed against a background of dark greenery.

This is the fourth in the (slightly out of order) sequence of photographs of spring tulips that follows their transition from green buds to colorful blossoms. Here all traces of the earlier color changing process are gone, and the flower is at its peak of color.

We travelled to a local, Bay Area garden several times in April to photograph spring flowers, and on the most recent visit the tulips were the featured performers. At this location there are — or were, by the time you read this — extensive beds filled with tulips in almost every imaginable color and pattern, with even more of them placed around the grounds in pots.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Toward the Light

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Toward the Light
Brighter walls beyond canyon narrows, Death Valley National Park.

Toward the Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Brighter walls beyond canyon narrows, Death Valley National Park.

There is a seasonal cycle to my landscape photography, which should be no surprise since these cycles are visible in the landscape itself. This takes me back to certain subjects almost every year: migratory birds and access to desert and to snowy landscapes in winter, access to warmer places and new life in spring, the Sierra and other travel opportunities in summer, the colors of autumn. This year’s seasonal change is well underway, as I think I’m getting close to the end of this year’s new Death Valley photographs.

This is yet another one from a very fruitful visit to this canyon in the mountains of Death Valley. We drove there, hiked in, and then took our time hiking back down, pausing frequently to photograph the narrow sections in gentle afternoon light. In this photograph, as in a few others from this location, the dark and banded foreground rock in the shadows contrasts with the lighter walls that get more of the warm-colored sunlight.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature

Emerging Tulip

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Emerging Tulip
A blossoming pink tulip against a background of tulip greenery.

Emerging Tulip. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A blossoming pink tulip against a background of tulip greenery.

Today I’m taking a detour away from the recent and extensive series of photographs from Death Valley and heading about as far in another direction as possible! This is the first of a small group of photographs that I made on a recent morning when I accompanied Patty (our resident photographer of flowers and other small things) to a Bay Area garden where tulips and many other springtime things were sprouting. It is a bit of an odd spring here — it follows over two months of almost no rain, which is extremely rare for this season in Central California, and it feels like the peak spring season is going to be abbreviated.

This garden, in San Mateo County south of San Francisco, features formal plantings over and extensive area. From late winter through spring it seems like one thing after another comes into form here, and on this visit the tulips were the main show. Most of them are intensely colorful and growing in large groups, but I decided to try to focus on some of the less intensely colorful flowers and to set them against the background of green stems and leaves.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Twisting Canyon

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Twisting Canyon
Canyon narrows twist through mountains of Death Valley National Park.

Twisting Canyon. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Canyon narrows twist through mountains of Death Valley National Park.

Near the end of March we spent an afternoon hiking up this narrow desert canyon in a somewhat remote location in Death Valley National Park. Our plan was to be in its narrows, of which there are several, at a point in the afternoon when there was still plenty of light reflecting down from above… but not so much direct light from the midday sun. So we hiked directly up the canyon without making too many stops, passing right through the narrows without stopping. We took a break, unpacked photographic equipment, and reentered the canyon to begin our return hike, which would be much slower as we stopped to photograph.

In this section the narrow canyons walls were not only close together, but they also twist and turn quite a bit. The wash at the bottom of the canyon here follows a rather zigzag path, perhaps following some ancient weaknesses in the rock. Here there were also more large rocks on the canyon floor than I typically see in these narrow sections — my assumption is that the water, diverted by this winding path though the twisting section, may be a bit more likely to drop its load of rocks and gravel here.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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