Tag Archives: area

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Two Oaks, Morning Sun

May 7, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

The springtime morning sun shines through a pair of oak trees in the Calero Hills south of San Jose, California.

On the final day of April and for the first time this season, I found to go for a hike at my favorite local park, a place where I have walked just about every available trail (and invented a few routes of my own) and photographed for a number of years. The park would not seem like anything all that special by comparison to some of the other places I visit, but it is close and I’ve gotten to know it in a way that makes it more special. The place is called the Calero County Park, part of the Santa Clara County Parks system.

The entrance to the park is in a broad valley that is largely occupied by stables. (Or, used to be – it looks like the stables must have closed since last season.) Rising from this valley are the typical grass-covered hills of central and northern California, with oaks and other trees scattered around and, in places, thicker trees and brush. At this time of year, the hills turn what I call “impossibly green” – and if you have seen them on a late-winter or early spring morning you know what I mean.

I started this hike a bit after dawn, so the golden hour light was more or less gone. I had a general idea of photographing some wildflowers (which didn’t happen – it was too windy) and some oak trees that grow alone or in small groups on the grass-covered hills. I passed a small lake – where a single egret often hangs out, but not on this morning – and topped a rise and descended into a small valley from which I have made quite a few photographs of oaks. It didn’t look too promising at first, but at the far end of this area I noticed that a pair of trees were still obscuring the sun and that I might be able to shoot straight into the sun with the trees blocking its disk, and get a photograph including the tree shadows on the hillside grasses.

This turned out to be another of those all-too-common ephemeral photographs in that the sun was starting to rise above the top branches of the tree and would soon be “out in the open,” making it much too bright for what I had in mind. So I worked quickly to set up tripod and camera and select a lens, then frame a composition, focus, and make a series of exposures that might be needed to deal with the huge dynamic range between direct sun and backlit tree trunks. By the time I had everything set up and was ready to shoot the sun had already risen above the upper branches, so I ended up looking for a slightly better shadow and putting the tripod down very low – and this gave me must enough time to make the series of exposures I figured I would need.

In the end, I got lucky. One single shot somehow managed to not blow the sun out too badly yet hold enough detail in the grass that a bit of work in post could bring it back. With all of the potential for lens flare – which I had to some extent in every shot – this one only had two small bits of it, and they were easily dealt with.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | LinkedIn | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Redwood Trunk, Detail

May 5, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Detail view of the convoluted textures of the bark of a coast redwood tree, Muir Woods National Monument.

I’m fascinated by the patterns of tree trunks and bark, and I often try to find ways to make photographs of the thick and rugged bark of coastal redwoods – but not always with a lot of success! The subject is trickier than it seems at first. Even during the daytime these forests can be quite dark – and occasional beams of direct light pose their own problems along the lines of harsh shadows. When shooting close up, relatively small apertures are needed since some amount of DOF is required to get the closest parts of the thick bar, and the deeper parts along the frame edges decently in focus. Low light and small apertures means long exposures, and even a bit of air movement will move leaves, bits of grass, or (in the case of this photo) spider webs. And when a bit of interesting filtered light does make it down through the forest canopy, it is often there and gone within a few seconds. (On this same day I came across a beautiful shadow on the side of one redwood that included the shapes of some nearby alder trees. It was wonderful! It was also gone 10-15 seconds later when I got my camera into position!)

I photographed this bit of bark shape and texture along the main trail at Muir Woods on this late-April morning. As is my usual plan, I had arrived very early – before the park actually opens – and was able to wander around without the typical crowds that appear once the post-breakfast tour buses arrive from nearby San Francisco. In this spot it was quite dark, but there was just a bit of filtered and reflected light to bring out the textures and colors of the redwood bark.

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

Abandoned Mining Cabin Ruins, Panamint Range

April 29, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Black and white photograph of the ruins of an abandoned mining cabin high in the Panamint Mountain Range of Death Valley National Park.

There are a number of things that make Death Valley National Park, to the best of my knowledge, rather unique. One is the extensive history of human habitation inside the park boundaries, quite a bit of which is visible – though some takes a bit more effort and attention to spot. The history of mining in the park is well-known, and many of the icons of the park have connections to this history. If you visit Furnace Creek, for example, you cannot miss the displays of old wagons and so forth used to move ore out of the Valley. It doesn’t take a lot of careful study to figure out that many park roads originated in an era of prospecting and mining. There are several well-known examples of structures left over from that era in and around the park, too.

It is largely because of this history that many areas of this national park are (or have been – some are now reverting to wilderness status) accessible by gravel road or four-wheel-drive routes. I would argue that you can’t really get to know this park if you just stick to the paved roads and the points of interest that they access. If you drive any of these other routes and keep your eyes open you will often be surprised by the left overs from relatively recent mining and prospecting, much of which isn’t really written about or described in the usual guides to the park. (And I’m not going to offer specific details about where to find such places here, since I don’t want to be even a little bit responsible for damage to them. If you do visit, treat them with care and respect.)

As I drove along a gravel road in one of the many mountain ranges of the park, returning from a site that is somewhat well-known, I began to notice evidence of fairly recent mining and prospecting. Faint tracks depart from the main “road” and cross valleys and hills, here and there tailing piles and mine entrances are visible, and sometimes you come across old structures such as cabins, storage bunkers, or wooden towers above mine entrances. I spotted the ruins of this old cabin above the road at one point and decided to walk up and investigate.

I’m almost always surprised at how “modern” many of the traces found at these places seem to be. I guess I am expecting something from the 1800s, but quite a few of these places look like they were build and occupied much later than that. I find modern things like linoleum flooring or modern-looking nails or electrical wire in many of them. There obviously isn’t much left of this cabin now, but from the detritus lying around near it and the form and materials found here, it must have been a reasonably comfortable place to live. As I walk around such places I often try to imagine what it must have been like to wake up every morning in this silent desert and head out for another day of physical labor.

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Steel Towers, Night

April 27, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Massive steel towers stand against the night sky at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

This is a vertical format photograph of the same series of overhead ship yard structures that I posted in horizontal format recently. As in the other, the illumination comes from very warm (verging on orange-yellow) light from nearby security lights in the shipyard. As a result the extremely hot colors of the metal structures are juxtaposed with the relatively cooler colors of moonlit night sky on this full moon night.

The structures, along the shoreline at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, were apparently used to move heavy ship components between nearby shops and ships along the waterfront. As I understand it, the yard has been out of commission for about a decade and a half at this point, and the huge mechanical/industrial structures are showing the effects via peeling paint and rust.

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