Tag Archives: bush

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Redwood Forest Trail

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Redwood Forest Trail
A trail winds through redwood forest, past ferns and rhodendrons, Del Norte State Park.

Redwood Forest Trail. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A trail winds through redwood forest, past ferns and rhodendrons, Del Norte State Park.

As I write this post, it has been a 100+ degree day with wildfire smoke drifting across the Bay Area and mostly forcing us inside — and I know it is much worse in many other parts of California and the West. Barely more than two months ago we walked this coastal trail through redwoods on a cool June morning as fog drifted overhead and rhododendrons bloomed. How long ago that seems now! But looking forward an equal amount of time we can hope that this nasty, dry, hot summer will be behind us and, with luck, autumn rains will return.

Photographing redwood forests can be a tricky thing. Deep in the forest the light can be so low that exposures as long as a second or more a necessary. Meanwhile, even on the most still days there is always a slight bit of air motion, and the long palm fronds and hanging plans are virtually never still. And when the sun rises higher in the sky and sends a few beams of light to the forest floor, the difference between the sunlit spots and the shadows can be huge. In this photograph, in order to produce something that reflects what we see when we look around such a scene, I had to carefully control the brightness of the bits of sky at the top of the photograph and the stray beams of light along the trail… and then ensure that the dark areas were bright enough to make details visible.

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: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

The Forest Floor

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The Forest Floor
Ferns, redwood sorrel, other plants, and young redwoods deep inside the coastal redwood forest.

The Forest Floor. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ferns, redwood sorrel, other plants, and young redwoods deep inside the coastal redwood forest.

Here is another photograph from this year’s late-spring foray to the far Northern California redwood region — the National and State Redwood Parks. It may surprise you to find that this almost-native Californian didn’t really start to get his mind around this region until fairly recently. While I’ve know the redwoods closer to the San Francisco Bay Area nearly my whole life, the parks in the northern reaches of the state were not part of my experience aside from driving through a few of them. Over the past few years I have been exploring them and I am now starting to feel like I know that part of the state a bit better.

This scene comes from one of the state parks. Which park is perhaps not that important, given that you can find scenes like this one almost anywhere. One differentiating factor among the parks seems to be how far they are from the coast — wetter and lusher closer to the coast, warmer and a bit more open further inland. This scene is perhaps more representative of the near-coast forest, with extremely thick and lush undergrowth and green things growing everywhere. (That “green things” comment may seem odd to those who aren’t familiar with much of the rest of California, where things are distinctly not-green during most of the year.)

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: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Redwood Understory

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Redwood Understory
Brush, rhododendrons, and small trees growing at the base of old coast redwood trees.

Redwood Understory. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brush, rhododendrons, and small trees growing at the base of old coast redwood trees.

This photograph takes me back to early June, when we spent a few days photographing in far Northern California’s coast redwood country, mostly in the famous national and state redwood parks up there. The timing of visits to the redwoods always seems a bit tricky, and in my experience it seems that the dates for important things like the arrival of the rhododendron bloom can be pretty variable. On this trip we want back on more or less the same dates as our previous visit, but this time we saw far fewer rhododendron blooms. Of course, with the disrupted climate and drought in California, things seem to be off schedule generally.

I am somewhat notorious for being unable to encounter fog in this area, at least in the redwood forest. I regularly see foggy redwood forest photographs by others, but when I go the fog seems to flee the scene! On this morning there actually was a bit of fog though. A few minutes early some stray fog clouds had passed through the trees, and when I made this photograph higher clouds muted the light quite nicely. The lighter plant in the foreground is a tree-like rhododendron… with almost no flowers!

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Creosote and Dunes in Morning Light

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Creosote and Dunes in Morning Light
Shadows and early morning light on creosote plants and sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Creosote and Dunes in Morning Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Shadows and early morning light on creosote plants and sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Yes, I know. I keep suggesting that I’m done with the new photographs from this year’s early-April visit to Death Valley. And then I decide to look at them again before moving on. And I find another that I want to work up. And then another. I really do think I may be done with them. For now. Maybe. But maybe not…

These creosote plants are among the Death Valley plants that seem to thrive, or at least survive, in the least likely places. Here they grow on the sand dunes and are among the largest plants you’ll find here. As they battle this harsh environment of heat, intense light, strong winds, and blowing sand they not only manage to live here but they even affect this landscape. Clumps of creosote like this one obstruct the blowing sand enough to begin a process of building small mounds at their base, and this seems to allow additional shoots of the plant to fill in until some examples are quite large.

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 | 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.