Tag Archives: dormant

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Dormant Desert Holly

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Dormant Desert Holly
A dormant desert holly plant against rocky backdrop in evening light.

Dormant Desert Holly. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A dormant desert holly plant against rocky backdrop in evening light.

Photographing this dormant desert holly bush was very much a last minute opportunity. Late in the afternoon we headed toward a prospective early evening subject, stopping along the way to photograph various other things as the light cooperated. Ironically, when we arrived at that intended subject several factors made it less appealing than expected, and I barely photographed it at all! We spent a few minutes there, and as the light began to decrease we moved on.

We were along the east side of Death Valley at the time. A big part of photographing in this landscape is learning the daily patterns of the light. Because of the very large mountain range on the west side, the direct light where we were ends well before sunset. This also produces an extended period of soft light in the shadow of that western range, when the landscape is still illuminated by the blue sky and sometimes by colorful clouds. I photographed this plant, set against a nearly barren and rocky hillside, as that soft evening light began to fade.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Trees and Grass

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Winter Trees and Grass
Winter grass beneath a thicket of dormant trees on a foggy morning in the Central Valley.

Winter Trees and Grass. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter grass beneath a thicket of dormant trees on a foggy morning in the Central Valley.

This photograph comes from a particular moment of transition on a winter tule fog day in California’s Central Valley, the point when the nearly impenetrable gray blanket of the fog begins to thin, the view opens a bit, and the light becomes warmer and slightly directional. A half hour earlier this scene would have been almost devoid of color, and many of the trees would have been nearly obscured by fog. (An hour later the scene might be overly bright and harshly lit.)

This spot holds several things that characterize the the Valley at this time of year: the fog-to-sunlight transition, of course, but also the dormant trees along the edge of farmland and the very green newly sprouted winter grass. That grass is a distinctly California thing that often surprises visitors from colder climates, where the seasonal cycle is almost reversed. A spot like this will be dry and brown in summer and fall, but winter rains trigger our”impossible green” season as the plants respond to the moisture.

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: Agriculture, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Dormant Trees and Fog

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Dormant Trees and Fog
Dormant trees in Central Valley winter tule fog.

Dormant Trees and Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dormant trees in Central Valley winter tule fog.

This is the second in a series of photographs I made of this Central Valley orchard on a very foggy winter morning. On a typical morning with these conditions, there comes a time when the fog begins to move and thin and the light begins to come through the fog and make it glow. (This is tule fog, which forms at night when the moisture level is right, and ends up producing a thin but often very dense layer of low fog.) I had been photographing birds in thicker fog, and when the thinning process began I moved to this location where I thought the trees might be an interesting subject.

In some ways it is an easy matter to photograph a subject like this one. It is naturally mysterious and compelling, both from the fog itself and from the vaguely anthropomorphic forms of the dormant trees. However, once I begin to work with such a subject, things invariably start to become more complicated than I expected — how to create a balanced composition? What camera position gives the most interesting juxtaposition of trunks? How much to focus on trunks and how much on the upper branches How to deal with inevitable intrusions of branches into the scene. My solution is a combination of looking and thinking, relying on intuition, and trying many different approaches.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dry Corn Lily Plants, Autumn

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Dry Corn Lily Plants, Autumn
A bed of fallen and dry autumn corn lily plants, Yosemite National Park.

Dry Corn Lily Plants, Autumn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bed of fallen and dry autumn corn lily plants, Yosemite National Park.

The corn lily is one of my favorite Sierra plants. It tends to grow in meadowy, wet areas that are often particularly lush — and thus bug infested— in the early season. I think it is an attractive plant at almost any point in its annual life-cycle. It emerges as the green shoot as meadows come back to life early in the season, and before long the intense and lush bright green plants stand tall. But this state of perfection doesn’t last long, and soon blemishes appear — dark spots, holes, and eventually yellow areas as the end of the summer season draws near. (I’ve long thought of this change as the first sign of the coming Sierra autumn season.) Eventually the plants dry out, fall over, and when everything works out just right the form small carpets of brown and yellow and tan and fading green.

The corn lily is a favorite of photographers, most often photographed during that earlier lush, green stage. (It often seems like photographing such a beautiful plant would be easy, but once I start looking for the perfect conjunction of leaf shapes it inevitably becomes more difficult than I expected. )

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.