Tag Archives: branch

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Berry Plants

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Autumn Berry Plants
“Autumn Berry Plants” — A vining berry plant with autumn colors, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This is a sort of accidental photograph. I had stopped along an Eastern Sierra road to photograph a grove of autumn aspen trees that were in soft light, shaded by a nearby hill. The subject initially looked promising — colorful trees, nice light, a creek flowing nearby. However, despite wandering slowly for some time I could not find an aspen subject that interested me. (Oddly, this happens sometimes with aspen trees — they can look great from a distance, but once I’m up close it can be very challenging to find interesting compositions.)

In any case, giving up on aspens I started looking around for other subjects. As I walked out of the grove and was ready to depart, I saw these berry vines growing close to the ground and winding around the trunks of trees. Taking care to avoid the thorns — yes, I’ve been “bitten” before — I moved in close and worked with the interesting colors and textures of the leaves in the soft light.

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, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Broken Branch and Wildflowers

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Broken Branch and Wildflowers
“Broken Branch and Wildflowers” — A broken branch lies in a Sierra Nevada meadow next to wildflowers.

We were camped on a low hill covered with trees — likely an old lateral moraine of some sort. A subalpine lake below our hill was surrounded by meadows, and the wildflowers were still in bloom even though it was late in the season. On several occasions I just wandered slowly around and through the meadow, and on one of those walks I found this broken branch lying on the green grasses next to a few colorful wildflowers.

We had been base-camped at this Sierra Nevada backcountry location for the better part of a week when I made this photograph. Working in a limited area for an extended period reveals details that we miss on shorter visits. With less time I tend to focus on the most spectacular and dramatic elements in the landscape. But given more time I slow down and start to notice the small things like this.

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: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature

Japanese Maple, Spring

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Japanese Maple, Spring
“Japanese Maple, Spring” — New spring growth on a Japanese maple tree, Hakone Gardens.

We have a couple of Japanese maple trees that we planted many years ago at our home. (We thought they were small trees, but we now know from practical experience that they can grow to be very large!) They are beautiful trees, with lovely green foliage that is thick enough to provide deep shade in summer. They produce beautiful fall colors, and their seeds “fly” though the air — our kids called them “helicopter” seeds.

I photographed this branch of a Japanese maple during our spring visit to the Hakone Estate and Gardens, where there is a beautiful Japanese garden. We were there to celebrate the cherry blossoms, but there was much more to see as we wandered the grounds as the day ended and evening arrived.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature

Three Foxglove Flowers

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Three Foxglove Flowers
Three white foxglove flowers hanging from a branch in shade.

Three Foxglove Flowers. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three white foxglove flowers hanging from a branch in shade.

Most of the time when I photograph foxglove flowers I tend to work with the vertical stalks of very colorful flowers, and I try to use a point of view that lets us look into the individual flowers. For one thing, there are often some fascinating patters inside the blossoms. But this time I decided to go in a different direction with this photograph of flowers hanging from a horizontal stalk.

The flowers were growing in a shady area and it was early evening, so I had very soft light to work with. By shooting across the hanging flowers I was able to put three of them in the frame but also include some background flowers behind them. And somehow the monophonic interpretation seems right in this case.

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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