Tag Archives: bloom

Photographs: Nature

Flowering Maple

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Flowering Maple
Macro photograph of the center of a colorful flowering maple blossom..

Flowering Maple. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Macro photograph of the center of a colorful flowering maple blossom..

This photograph definitely required me to put away the usual lens and replace it with a real macro lens — the camera position is “up close and personal” with the internals of this flowering maple blossom. Looking at the whole flower you would see a red bloom, but the internal structure includes some other colors — this yellow-gold and the interesting five-lobed green pattern inside the base of the flower.

I’m always challenged by this subject. I have some of general sense of what I want to see in flower photographs that I make, but it often isn’t quite clear how to find/create that. So, in a manner that might seem a bit like wildlife photography, I usually make several different attempts with each subject, looking for the one that speaks to me.

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: Agriculture, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Blossoms, Almond Orchard

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Blossoms, Almond Orchard
Almond trees blooming in California’s Central Valley.

Blossoms, Almond Orchard. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Almond trees blooming in California’s Central Valley.

On this early March morning I was out in Central California photographing the last of the season’s geese and a few of their feathered colleagues. Because of the recent heavy rains there were pools of water everywhere. This provided the birds with more than the usual number of ponds, and many of them chose to land it places inaccessible to me. Eventually I decided to look around for other things to photograph.

As I headed up a nearby road I noticed that the vast orchards were blooming. It is quite a sight, and I understand that these regions are now starting to promote the almond blossom season as an event. The location I visited was fairly remote, and the road I took to this orchard was not one that many city folks would want to drive! I pulled over next to an orchard and photographed the backlit blooms.

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

Pink Tulip

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A pink spring tulip with early morning water droplets.

Pink Tulip. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A pink spring tulip with early morning water droplets.

With this photograph I will (probably? maybe?) close out the photographs from our early March visit to a San Francisco Bay Area garden. We thought we were there for the peak of the tulip bloom, but only a few of the flowers were in bloom yet. This year’s wild California weather seems to have thrown off nature’s schedule a bit. But even one blooming flower can be enough, and this one seems quite nice.

You might be looking at the photograph and thinking, “the flower is lovely, but did you have to spray the water on it?” I can assure you that those drops were actually there with no assistance from me. Between the exceptional recent rainfall and the early morning hour, there was still lot of water on the plants.

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 | Twitter | 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: Structures and Objects

Blue Hyacinth

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Blue Hyacinth
“Blue Hyacinth” — Macro photography of bue hyacinth flowers.

While I like photographing flowers, I’m no expert on the plant world or flowers. In fact, I have a heck of a time keeping their names straight! It has always been this way. It has always been the case that I could recognize the appearance of a wildflower, down to the specific spot where I might find it, the week when it would typically bloom, and what else might grow nearby… yet be unable to recall its name. These hyacinth flowers intrigue me… but I didn’t know what they were called!

I did, however, recognize that they are not easy to photograph. Their shape creates challenges regarding depth of field, especially when I try to photograph individual blossoms. If finally occurred to me that, rather than trying to photograph separate flowers, I could photograph from a position directly a above the plant and capture the remarkable patterns produced by the mass of flowers radiating out from the central stem.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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