Tag Archives: bud

Photographs: Nature

Emerging Tulip

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Emerging Tulip
A tulip bud begins to open.

Emerging Tulip. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A tulip bud begins to open.

This is another tulip photograph, though this one is at a much earlier point in its development. We recently visited a large garden that features lots of tulips at this time every season. But this year they seemed delayed a bit, perhaps as a result of the recent cold and rainy weather. Some were blooming, but far more were still in the pre-bloom phase like this one.

Tulips are obviously quite beautiful when they blossom, but I’m also attracted to this pre-blossom stage when they are mostly green and just starting to hint at the color that will soon appear. If you look closely you can see just a tiny bit of color near the very tip.

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

Green Tulip Buds

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Green Tulip Buds
Green tulip buds against a bakground of green plants and leaves.

Green Tulip Buds. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Green tulip buds against a background of green plants and leaves.

Earlier this month we spent a few mornings photographing at a San Francisco Bay Area garden. Patricia Mitchell, the other photographer in the household, specializes in photographs of flowers and foliage, often at very close distances… and this is her season! Even in this drought year there are plenty of spring plants sprouting and flowers blooming.

On our second visit the tulips were arguably the stars of the show. The garden we visited has extensive tulip beds and places additional pots of the flowers all around the facility. This gave me the opportunity to photograph the flowers in a range of states, from the green early buds shown here to full blooms — that I’ll share here in other posts.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fairy Lantern

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Fairy Lantern
A fairy lantern (globe lily) flower, photographed in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area

Fairy Lantern. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fairy lantern (globe lily) flower, photographed in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area

It is difficult to come up with a rational explanation for why some wildflowers particularly catch my attention, but it is fact that some do. I have a short list of Sierra Nevada wildflowers that will always cause me to pause and look more closely. In a particular area of the Northern California hills that flower is this one, the fairy lantern or globe lily.

Somehow I managed to hike for decades in these hills before I “discovered” this flower on a hike through a small valley one spring while visiting the non-urban park that is closer to me than any other, a place where I’ve gone for spring “conditioning hikes” since I can remember. One time a perhaps two decades ago I took a different route through this spot and was enchanted by these mysterious flowers. Now I mark the onset of spring here by their appearance. They aren’t really easy to photograph since they don’t open up energetically, and you must get down low and photograph them from a bit underneath to reveal the flower — and the colors are subtle and easily washed out by any bright 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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Morning Glory, California Coast

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Morning Glory, California Coast
Spring morning glory flowers along the California coastline, Monterey County

Morning Glory, California Coast. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring morning glory flowers along the California coastline, Monterey County.

I hope I have the right identification of this flower! (If not, I’ll rely on the intelligence of the web to set me straight.) I think it is morning glory, though there is at least one other flower that seems to fit the appearance and location along the Pacific Coast Highway.

I had briefly stopped to photograph a landscape scene — a small cove and rocky beach, with overlapping headlands marching away to the south. As I walked to my overlook I passed through an area filled with all sorts of wildflowers, including these specimens.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.