Tag Archives: calero

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

Oaks and Grass, Late Summer

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Oaks and Grass, Late Summer
Oaks and Grass, Late Summer

Oaks and Grass, Late Summer. Santa Clara County, California. August 17 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late summer morning fog clears about oak and grass-covered California hills

Today’s photographic journey was a short one — back to a local park where I have photographed for quite a few years, though not recently. This is a place that I used to go to almost every week, and where I hiked just about every trail, to the point that I became intimately familiar with the place in all seasons. It is a landscape of rolling hills with a few high, rocky outcroppings, many oak trees, and grassland. In the manner of most of California, the grass deeply affects the appearance — changing from “impossible green” in winter and spring to brown or golden, depending upon your disposition. I think of it as golden.

This morning I was in a bit of an autumn frame of mind. (A separate post today will have more to say about that pleasant state.) I got up early to discover that the area was covered by the typical coastal high fog. (I live perhaps an hour’s drive from the Pacific Ocean.) This is not the sort of romantic and moody fog that sits low to the ground and floats among trees. It is the higher, drab, gray kind of fog that produces an undifferentiated sky and very flat light. However, at this time of year that fog will most certainly clear, usually by mid-morning. So I left home in these gray conditions, planning to be among the oaks and grass when the fog began to break up.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.© Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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

Calero Oaks, Fog

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Calero Oaks, Fog
“Calero Oaks, Fog” — Morning fog clears around hilltop winter oak trees.

This is an older photograph that I sort of “rediscovered” while going through older files recently. It was due for a bit of additional work, reformatting to fit my current preferred 4:3 print ratio, and the updated web border and text that you see in the online versions of my photographs. (And, to answer the question that comes up from time to time, my fine art prints do not include the text found in the online photographs!)

Although I no longer visit there quite as often, this area became a favorite location of mine a few years ago, especially during the winter months when morning fog frequently burns off and reveals the newly-green winter landscape of the California grassland and oak forests. The photograph was made on one of these very mornings, as I had hiked the familiar trail along the top of this ridge, to find myself on the border between fog in the valleys and clearing on the ridge, with the edge of the fog drifting through these trees and the sun backlighting this misty atmosphere.

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.

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

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

Winter Tree

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Winter Tree - A winter-dormant tree is backlit by morning sun in the grasslands of the Calero Hills, California.
A winter-dormant tree is backlit by morning sun in the grasslands of the Calero Hills, California.

Winter Tree. Calero Hills, California. December 24, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A winter-dormant tree is backlit by morning sun in the grasslands of the Calero Hills, California.

This tree and I are old friends at this point. (If you were to snoop around enough at my web site you might find other photographs of the same tree.) It is at a local county park where I have hiked for many years, and it is not far from the parking lot at the park, sitting on the far side of a small pond and somewhat inaccessible. So I almost always pass it at the start of any hike there, and I have photographed it in just about any conditions that you can imagine: summer heat, morning, evening, fog…

I hadn’t been there for a while, but I managed to find time for a short hike on Christmas Eve day this year. The trail approaches the small pond near the tree by ascending up a very shallow valley. There are thick reeds growing around the pond, and often an egret can be found at the lake. With that possibility in mind, I usually approach the pond slowly and quietly and often with my long lens already on the camera. I did so on this day… but no egret! The water level was very low after a fall season with almost no rain, so there were few birds there at all. But at just about the time I arrived the sun was beginning to peak over a nearby hill and it was back-lighting this tree against the still shaded grass-covered hillside beyond.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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: Wildlife

Red Wing Blackbird, Fence Post

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Red Wing Blackbird, Fence Post
Red Wing Blackbird, Fence Post

Red Wing Blackbird, Fence Post. Calero Hills, California. April 18, 2009. © Copyright 2009 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A redwing blackbird pauses atop a fence post in front of central California oak/grassland, Calero County Park.

Photographed on the same morning as another recent shot of this same type of bird, the bright red upper wings of this redwind blackbird provide a striking contrast to its jet black body. This bird was on a fence surrounding an old manmade pond at the Calero County Park south of San Jose, California – a place that I can drive to in little more than 15 minutes, and where I have hiked extensively for a number of years. These birds often flock around this small lake on winter and early spring mornings. Here it was still overcast, though the low fog from earlier in the morning was now dispersing.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.