Tag Archives: filoli

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Columbine Flower #2

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Columbine Flower #2
A columbine flower, photographed in soft light at a San Francisco Bay Area garden.

Columbine Flower #2. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A columbine flower, photographed in soft light at a San Francisco Bay Area garden.

As I wrote recently, my initial acquaintance with Columbine flowers came high in the Sierra, where a white specimen grows in rocky, alpine terrain. To me, those flowers defined the concept of “Columbine,” and it did not really cross my mind for a long time that there might be others.

I may be slow, but eventually I figure things out. Visits to more civilized gardens eventually taught me that there are other varieties of this beautiful flower. We found several on a recent visit to a garden here in the San Francisco Bay Area one evening. I decided to let much of this flower be soft and out of focus, only putting some of the yellow center in sharper relief.

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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Dogwood Flowers and Leaves

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Dogwood Flowers and Leaves
Spring dogwood tree blossoms nestled in a bed of green leaves.

Dogwood Flowers and Leaves. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Spring dogwood tree blossoms nestled in a bed of green leaves.

Let me begin by telling a story on myself, a story about looking for the perfect arrangement of dogwood leaves. When I first photographed them quite a while ago, I carried in my mind some incipient images of what I thought the photographs might look like. One of those images was derived from an Ansel Adams photograph of a spray of the flowers laid out in a lovely composition.

I would wander around Yosemite Valley and nearby locations looking for something that had the same quality. I wasn’t exactly trying to duplicate his photograph — just to see the blossoms in that way. But every arrangement was imperfect. The flowers didn’t line up correctly, there were gaps, something was distracting in the background. How did he find such a perfect arrangement? Well, I eventually learned, he did not “discover” it, he took flowers and arranged them by hand!

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 | Twitter | 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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Green and Brown

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Green and Brown
A dry fallen leaf rests on lush green leaves on the forest floor.

Green and Brown. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A dry fallen leaf rests on lush green leaves on the forest floor.

When I visit gardens to ostensibly photograph flowers, I inevitably find myself photographing other things — structures and objects, trees, fallen flowers, people, and ground plants growing in lush and shaded areas. The beautiful and very green leaves often seem like they would be easy to photograph, but I almost always realize that finding just the right arrangement can be challenging.

The stroke of luck here was finding this one light brown leaf lying atop the larger green leaves. This was spring, not autumn, and old, dry leaves are pretty rare. And, no, I did not put it there — I found it the way you see it.

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 | Twitter | 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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Dogwood Tree

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Dogwood Tree
A dogwood tree in full spr9ing bloom.

Dogwood Tree. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A dogwood tree in full spring bloom.

This dogwood tree was a complete surprise to us. We had gone to this San Francisco Bay Area location to enjoy an evening event and then stroll the large gardens. We knew there were dogwood trees at this place because we had photographed them elsewhere on the grounds. But we thought that the dogwood show had ended, and in fact there were almost no flowers left on the trees we knew about. But here was this remarkable specimen with thick beautiful flowers tinged with color.

It is funny sometimes to recognize how my preconceptions change with experience. This year that happened with dogwood trees. “My dogwoods” are the trees in Yosemite Valley and along some of the approaches to the park. I’ve photographed them every year for a long time, and it barely crossed my mind that there might be dogwood trees elsewhere or that there might be other types. My first strong hint this spring was on a rainy weekend in Manhattan, of all places, where I found beautiful blooming dogwoods in Central Park. The next surprise was this tree, perhaps thicker with flowers than any I have seen before.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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