Tag Archives: county

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Purple Wildflowers

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Purple Wildflowers
Purple Wildflowers. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Purple spring wildflowers photographed along a trail at Almaden Quicksilver Park in central California.

This was a fun shot. I did it handheld with the FF body and the 24-105mm lens. It is interesting to note that it is possible to get tight enough depth of field and even pretty decent bokeh (background blur) from this lens in the right conditions.

keywords: purple, flowers, wild, wildflowers, nature, spring, plants, green, almaden, quicksilver, santa clara, county, san jose, park, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Three Purple Wildflowers

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Three Purple Wildflowers

Three Purple Wildflowers. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The wildflower season in the central California coastal hills peaks in early April, so I make an effort to get out to some of the nearby wildflower areas every spring.

(Notes: I’m taking a short break from the Death Valley photos to add a bit of contrast and show a few spring 2008 wildflower photos. I have actually have over a month of upcoming photographs in the queue right now – more Death Valley photos, some Yosemite photos, and much more. Also, as you may have figured out from my generic flower photo titles – “purple wildflowers” – I’m not great and naming plants and flowers. Fortunately an acquaintance recently sent me a list of the names of all of the flowers I’ve recently photographed. When I update the titles I’ll credit this helpful person!)

keywords: purple, flowers, three, wildflowers, wild, nature, stems, green, leaves, california, usa, san jose, santa clara, county, san francisco, bay area, hills, trail, hike, hiking, almaden, quicksilver, park, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Spring Oak Leaves

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Spring Oak Leaves
Spring Oak Leaves. Calero Hills, California. March 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Some people might say I shouldn’t admit it, but there was an element of serendipity – actually, I made a mistake – in this photograph. (Some who imagine that all photographs should coalesce in the photographer’s mind in their final form before the shutter is clicked won’t want to hear about this.) I was working with a long lens and wide aperture to narrow the depth of field. My plan was to shoot the colorful foliage in the foreground and throw everything beyond out of focus. I set up, let the camera autofocus… and it focused on the “wrong” branches – the branches that are in focus in this shot. “Wait a minute,” I thought, “I kind of like the way that looks!” Instead of an in-focus foreground with everything else OOF, the middle ground is in focus and objects closer and farther away are OOF. It ended up being my favorite version of this scene; I like it more than the shot I was planning on.

keywords: spring, oak, tree, branches, leaves, bright, colorful, yellow, green, calero, santa clara, county, park, california, usa, nature, stock, landscape, morning

Photographs: Central California

Calero Trail, Spring

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Calero Trail, Spring
Calero Trail, Spring. Calero Hills, California. March 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A spring morning on a hillside trail through oak grassland of the Calero Hills in central California. This is representative of the start of what I call “the impossibly green” season in central California when for perhaps a month the grasses, trees, and wildflowers go absolutely wild following the winter rains.

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