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

Redwood Forest Ferns

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Redwood Forest Ferns
Interlocking ferns beneath old growth redwood trees along the Northern California coast.

Redwood Forest Ferns. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Interlocking ferns beneath old growth redwood trees along the Northern California coast.

This photograph continues with small things seen up close, in this case a bed of interlocking fern leaves on the forest floor beneath old growth redwood forest in coastal Northern California. When I make photographs like this one I typically start out thinking something like, “It should be easy to photograph ferns.” But it never is. As soon as I zero in on a composition I start to notice little flaws in the miniature scene — perhaps an empty void in a bad spot, a leaf that is deformed, a bright spot, you name it. And the photograph that seemed like it would be a quick thing… can end up occupying a substantial amount of my time.

But there is a lot more to photograph in redwood forests than must redwood trees. That subject most certainly is worth our attention, but with such monumental trees dominating the scene it is easy to overlook the smaller things. In order to see these things I tend to wander though the forest setting very slowly, sometimes spending more time standing and looking around than walking. (I’m pretty sure I drive some of my trail companions batty this way!) I found these ferns shortly after I crossed a rise and began to descend into a valley. I stopped and probably barely moved at all for 15 to 20 minutes as I photographed them and other nearby subjects.

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: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Old Growth Redwood Bark

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Old Growth Redwood Bark
Detail of a section of the bark of an old-growth coast redwood tree.

Old Growth Redwood Bark. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a section of the bark of an old-growth coast redwood tree.

As I have posted photographs from our recent visit to the Northern California coast redwood groves I have commented at times about the various ways of seeing the redwood forest and its famous trees. In a place with a primary subject of such stupendous size it is important to remind myself to also look away from the obvious things and keep my eyes open for smaller details. (The notion that smaller details of a subject often characterize it as much as the larger things is an important idea in much of my photography.) Yes, there is a really (really!) big tree in this photograph, but you only get to see this small section.

Redwood trees, especially the ancient old-growth trees — can exhibit all kinds of individual quirks. Some lean, occasionally on other trees. Some split into more than one trunk. Some have missing crowns. Other plants infiltrate some of them. The bark patterns are among the individualizing features. While some trees have rather regular patterns, others have all kinds of unusual shapes and patterns and deformities. The patterns of this tree, which almost have a grotesque quality, caught my attention as I photographed in a quiet grove of big trees. At first I thought to include a fern growing at the base of the tree, almost treating the bark as background, but in the end I decide to exclude everything but the bark. If you are so inclined, you might have some fun making associations with some of the shapes.

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

Right Angle Leaves

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Right Angle Leaves
A plant with a pattern of successive leaves growing at right angles to one another.

Right Angle Leaves. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A plant with a pattern of successive leaves growing at right angles to one another.

Two years ago we made a trip up the California coast, with our ultimate goal being the redwood parks in the far northern corner of the state. Our primary goal was photography — redwood trees, the coast, rhododendron blooms — but we also regarded this trip as a bit of a vacation. With that in mind we split the northward drive into two parts, and spent a couple of days largely hanging out in the town of Mendocino. We did a bit of photography, but we also did a bit of restaurant dining and other touristy things.

The town of Fort Bragg is just up the coast from here, and it turns out that there is an extensive botanical garden there — it rivals and surpasses those of many larger urban centers. So we spent part of a day wandering the grounds and photographing flowers and plants, including this specimen. In the soft shadow light the yellow to green colors and the fascinating geometries of the plant are easily visible.

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

Redwood Grove, Humboldt Redwoods

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Redwood Grove, Humboldt Redwoods
A dense grove of old- and new-growh coast redwoods, Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

Redwood Grove, Humboldt Redwoods. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dense grove of old- and new-growh coast redwoods, Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

When photographing new locations, there is a tension between knowing enough and knowing too much ahead of time. In most cases, some preparatory research about a place is useful — it lets you find your way to (and back from!) interesting locations, and it alerts you to their existence. On the other hand, knowing too much about a place limits opportunities to experience the feeling of “discovering” something unexpected. When we arrived at this grove near the end of an exploratory loop to the far Northern California coast, the unexpected stillness and quiet of this magnificent grove was magical.

Another tension concerns the best way(s) to interpret coast redwood forests in photographs. For me, the path usually lies somewhere between the (hopeless and uninteresting) idea of “capturing” supposed objective reality and fascinating and extravagantly subjective and even fantastical interpretations that may be problematic. I don’t think that there is a right answer, but extreme cases raise important questions. On this visit I focused on carefully considering what I see without the camera — how cool/warm the light appears in these places, how much detail can I really see, how much light is really in the scene. These observations inform how I render these subjects — and my thinking about the boundaries between what was there, how the camera “saw” it, and how I want you to see it.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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