Tag Archives: castle

Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains – Castle Rock State Park

Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains. Castle Rock State Park, California. April 24. 2010.

Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains - Castle Rock State Park
Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains - Castle Rock State Park

© Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring Oaks and Santa Cruz Mountains. Castle Rock State Park, California. April 24. 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Panoramic photograph of oak trees with new spring growth above the Santa Cruz Mountains descending towards Monterey Bay – Castle Rock State Park.

This is the first (in order of posting) of a few stitched panoramas I made last month. I’ve thought about this shot for a while. It is from at the top of a staircase section of trail at Castle Rock State Park in California, alongside Goat Rock. From this spot you can see all the way to Santa Cruz, the Monterey Bay, and the Monterey Peninsula hills beyond. On this early spring morning the oak trees were just getting their new leaves, so it was still possible to shoot between the branches and see the distant scene where fog filled the bay.

One idea I’m currently working with – among many others – is creating very wide panoramic stitched images of subjects that would usually be shot in a taller format – especially trees. Instead of photographing the entire tree, this feels to me more like looking through the trees at the scene beyond, closer to how I might actually look at this scene if I were there.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 131mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/60 second
three image stitched panorama

keywords: oak, tree, grove, forest, trunk, branch, silhouette, spring, season, growth, new, leaves, santa cruz, monterey, mountains, hills, ridge, valley, summit, county, bay, distance, haze, goat, rock, castle, state, park, california, usa, red, green, nature, scenic, travel, stock, landscape, flora, foliage, plant, north america, west, coast, bay, area, stitched, panorama

Creek and Moss, Castle Rock State Park

Creek with Mossy Rocks
Creek with Moss-Covered Rocks. Castle Rock State Park, California. February 24, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

I frequently walk past this fern covered section of creek when I hike the main trail to Castle Rock and Goat Rock at Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains of central California.

keywords: castle, rock, state, park, california, usa, santa cruz, mountains, skyline, road, trail, hike, rock, log, creek, water, moss, leaf, valley, scenic, landscape, winter, fern, stock