Tag Archives: bare

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

Row of Trees, Evening

February 19, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A row of bare trees stands next to a pond in evening light at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, Central Valley, California.

While photographing migratory birds in early February at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge in California’s Central Valley, just before sunset there was a lull in the “bird action,” and I realized that I had neglected to photograph much of anything besides the birds. With this in mind, I left the edge of the ponds where we had been shooting, and I took a short walk along a nearby trail that went out into some brushy areas that generally seemed sort of nondescript. Except… I’m fascinated by brushy, scrubby trees and brush and I’m always challenged when it comes to thinking about how to make photographic sense of this subject. In the right light the shapes and subtle colors can be quite interesting, but it can also be tricky to find a composition in the dense growth.

As I walked I passed along a small pond, and at first I noticed the reflection of a tree whose trunk was branching out in many different directions and its mirrored image in the water. Then I saw this row of barren trees, which I assume might have been planted along the levee as some sort of wind break. Their straight forms were tall and parallel, except that here and there this orderly form was broken up by a trunk or branch pointing off in some odd direction and creating a bit of visual dissonance. Since it was the lens I already had on the camera for photographing birds, I made this landscape photo with what might seem to be the least likely of landscape lenses, a 100-400mm zoom!

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: People

Strolling Along Asilomar Beach, Sunset

December 29, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Walkers stroll along misty Asilomar Beach at sunset, Pacific Grove.

Although this might momentarily evoke thoughts of summers at the beach in sunny California… this was shot in the middle of December, and it was rather cold! (The hardy beach-walkers in shorts and bare feet might make you think otherwise.) During the better part of a week spent in the Carmel Valley area I had a number of opportunities to visit nearby coastal areas, and on this evening I had just enough time to make it over to this area at Asilomar State Beach before the sun set.

The winter surf gives this section of the coast a very different look than it has in the winter. In general, the surf is a lot rougher. Along much of this section of coast in Pacific Grove the edge of the water drops off quickly in rocky terrain, but here there is a beach and the beach becomes wider and less steep as it works its way south from this spot. The winter air was a bit hazy and the surf added some mist, creating this colorful glow right about the time of sunset. There were quite a few people out walking on the beach, many with their dogs, so I found an interesting composition shooting along the edge of the water and its reflected sky and then waited for individual walks to place themselves in interesting parts of the frame.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspens and Cliff Face

November 9, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two aspen trees with a few remaining autumn leaves grow against a cliff near North Lake, California.

I photographed this little scene on my first real morning of aspen photography this season in early October. I arrived quite early at North Lake, driving up the snowed in gravel road right after it had apparently been reopened. It was unplowed but other vehicles had clearly been up there, I have four-wheel drive, and I wanted to see what I would find before too many others arrived later in the day. There were few people there when I arrived, which was a bit unusual since this area is often crawling with photographers, individually and in workshops, at this time of the year. But the fact that the road was still snow-covered and that the storms had affected the aspens seemed to keep people away.

I parked before arriving at the lake, shouldered my gear, and walked up to the lake. I bypassed the popular spot near the outlet stream – been there, done that! – and keep walking along the road that skirts the right side of the lake. Everything was still frozen and it was very cold – and I regretted not bringing my winter boots along! The aspen photography was not quite what I had hoped, but there were other subjects, among them the fresh snow – an unusual sight for early October!

In looking for subjects other than the “regular” views of North Lake – which can be spectacular and well worth photographing, too – I often walk slowly along the lake-side road and keep my eyes open along the rocky cliffs that line it. Because the direct sunlight doesn’t hit this spot until later in the day, it is often possible to find softer morning light and even some light reflected from across the lake. On this morning I found that many of the aspen leaves had fallen or turned brown as a result of the storm, but a few were left and the stark white trunks of the trees against the rocks seemed like an interesting subject.

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

Metal Walled Building With Door, Tree and Lawn, Night

March 6, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photograph of a metal walled building with a door, sidewalk, lawn, and tree – Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

This is a bit of a different sort of night photograph compared to the others I have posted in this recent series. (Most of those were shot at some distance from my subjects – generally old, historic buildings – and in very saturated and colorful light.) Near the end of my evening shoot at Mare Island in late February I was walking back from a dark and lonely corner of the place when I passed a more modern facility, an out-patient clinic of some sort. This facility is something of a stark contrast to the surrounding area. The building is relatively new and the walls are not the usual brick and/or corrugated metal, but instead are a more modern-looking sort of metal paneling. There is landscaping, including small patches of lawn and small trees. And the light is completely different. Elsewhere in the darker areas of Mare Island the lighting tends toward yellow, coming from sodium vapor lamps, though it also includes green and occasionally other hues. But here the light is fairly neutral and actually looks almost white. I wasn’t quite sure what to do! :-)

But then it seemed to me that it might be interesting to see what I could do with this modern (though not flawless) structure and its surrounding landscaping. Here a small door, partly blocked by some sort of signs, leads into a very small section of a building and is lit a bit mysteriously from above. Sidewalks lead away from the door and a small, forlorn patch of lawn sits near the corner of the building, with a single leafless tree supported by stakes. When I saw this spot and when I look at the photograph now I get this feeling that there should be some story behind all of this… but I have no idea what it might be.

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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.

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