Tag Archives: bare

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

Trees and Marsh, Fog

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Trees and Marsh, Fog
Trees and Marsh, Fog

Trees and Marsh, Fog. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 1, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A clump of trees on a foggy morning and their reflection in the waters of a Central Valley marsh

I made this photograph on New Year’s Day 2013, while on a little “goose chasing” adventure to California Central Valley wildlife refuges. A group of like-minded folks decided that there would be no better way to start the new year than to gather before sunrise along the edges of San Joaquin Valley marshes to hear the pre-dawn chorus of migratory birds and then spend the day photographing them.

As almost always seems to be the case out there, the atmosphere and light continued to evolve in all sorts of interesting ways as the day wore on. Dawn come with high clouds that were broken in a few spots and with fog below. Eventually the light penetrated the high clouds and began to light up the refuge – but the light remained soft and luminous as the fog wasn’t quite done with us yet. We took a midday break, and when we returned we again had overcast, but sunset colors came through near the end of the day. While circling the area looking for geese and other critters I stopped at one point to photograph these trees growing from the marshy land against a background of haze and a bit of fog.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Aspens in Transition

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Aspens in Transition - Aspen forest in autumn color transition near Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah
Aspen forest in autumn color transition near Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah

Aspens in Transition. Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah. October 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Aspen forest in autumn color transition near Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah

During the several days we spent in the Cedar Breaks area (with forays out to further surrounding destinations and back) I was looking for high elevation aspen color, which had, for the most part, passed its prime before we arrived. Many of the higher elevation aspen trees were bare of leaves, though a few sparse delicate leaves remained and in places there were a few trees here and there that somehow managed to retain all of their golden leaves. The rolling terrain of the National Monument along the thru-road, which I traveled several times, was not turning out to be a great spot to find the color I was looking for.

One morning, returning from Cedar Breaks to Brian Head, I saw the gravel road to Brian Head Peak (or Mountain?) and headed up there, to find an expansive 360-degree panorama visible from the summit of the 11,000+ peak. From this high vantage point I was able to spot where those colorful trees had been hiding out on the other side of the ridge west of Brian Head! I could also see that there were some ways to get back into that area, so on the final morning of our visit to this area I found another small gravel road, crossed that ridge, and was able to see vast groves of aspens beyond. While this photograph doesn’t quite show those trees, it does include an interesting feature of this area, the mixed conifer and aspen forest with very tall aspen trees reaching as high or higher than the conifers. Here there were a few brilliantly colorful clumps of aspens left among the other trees, with interesting texture provided by the many bare trunks – and all of this seems a bit more visible due to the soft, diffused light from the high, thin overcast.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | 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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Aspen Grove, Boulder Mountain

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Aspen Grove, Boulder Mountain - Brilliantly colorful fall aspens on Boulder Mountain, Utah
Brilliantly colorful fall aspens on Boulder Mountain, Utah

Aspen Grove, Boulder Mountain. Dixie National Forest, Utah. October 6, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brilliantly colorful fall aspens on Boulder Mountain, Utah

The aspen groves on Boulder Mountain, in the Dixie National Forest between the Utah towns of Boulder and Torrey, was a target of our recent Utah visit. Earlier this year we had crossed the shoulder of this mountain in early April before the trees had leafed out, and we had been amazed at the extensive groves and had wondered what they must look like in autumn. After seeing earlier autumn foliage in western Utah, we were expecting great things here, too.

It turned out that the highest elevations aspens – and Boulder Mountain is a high elevation site – had really passed their prime by the time we arrived, this being an earlier than usual year for aspen color. Nonetheless, even with bare and nearly bare trees up high, there was still a lot of color is some of the lower groves and even the higher groves still held small pockets of brilliantly colored leaves. Among the first we encountered was this grove that led up the slopes to a high ridge. Trees near the bottom of the aspen forest here were still very colorful, mostly golden-yellow, but with a bit of red-orange mixed in.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | 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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Spring Cottonwood and Sandstone Cliff

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Spring Cottonwood and Sandstone Cliff - A cottonwood tree with early spring leaves stands in front of a sandstone cliff, Zion National Park, Utah
A cottonwood tree with early spring leaves stands in front of a sandstone cliff, Zion National Park, Utah

Spring Cottonwood and Sandstone Cliff. Zion National Park, Utah. April 4, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cottonwood tree with early spring leaves stands in front of a sandstone cliff, Zion National Park, Utah.

This was my first visit to Zion National Park – believe it or not – and I had been thinking about photographing cottonwood trees against red sandstone cliffs well before we arrived. We got there in the afternoon, checked in to our lodgings, and soon went up into the main canyon on the shuttle and then hiked up toward the Narrows from there.

It was a special and unusual experience for me to be photographing in an entirely new place, and to have very little idea of the geography of the Zion at all – I had almost intentionally avoided researching ahead of time, preferring to take it for what it was when I arrived. I was so naive that when we passed over a bridge and I looked downstream I thought, “Oh, that is the Watchman.” (For those who don’t know, the photograph of the Watchman Tower above the Virgin River, photographed from the bridge that crosses the river just inside the park is, roughly speaking, the Zion equivalent of photographing Half Dome from Sentinel Bridge in Yosemite.) We kept going, staring up at the beautiful sandstone towers and walls as the shuttle travelled up the canyon to the very end at the Temple of Sinawava, where we got off and started to walk. The walls in this very area are beautiful, and my progress up the trail was very slow as I stopped to gawk and photograph all of these wonderful new subjects, including this almost bare tree with its first spring growth. against the backdrop of the sandstone cliffs.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | 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.