Tag Archives: flora

Photographs: Nature

Blue Dicks Flower

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Blue Dicks Flower
A spring blue dicks wildflower in bloom.

Blue Dicks Flower. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A spring blue dicks wildflower in bloom.

The blue dicks flowers are ubiquitous around here in the springtime, often growing in or at the edge of grasslands. It is an attractive flower (or group of flowers, more likely) waving at the top of a long, slender stalk. I look forward to their appearance every year, and I always end up making a few new photographs of them — despite the fact that the long stem makes them move in the slightest breeze, making photography a challenge.

The obvious question, of course, is “Where did that name come from?” I wondered for quite a while, too. According to one source, “he least suggestive explanation is that “dick” is a shortened form of the genus name Dichelostemma.” There are some other, potentially racier, explanations, but I think I’ll stick with this one.

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

Pink Tulip

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A pink spring tulip with early morning water droplets.

Pink Tulip. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A pink spring tulip with early morning water droplets.

With this photograph I will (probably? maybe?) close out the photographs from our early March visit to a San Francisco Bay Area garden. We thought we were there for the peak of the tulip bloom, but only a few of the flowers were in bloom yet. This year’s wild California weather seems to have thrown off nature’s schedule a bit. But even one blooming flower can be enough, and this one seems quite nice.

You might be looking at the photograph and thinking, “the flower is lovely, but did you have to spray the water on it?” I can assure you that those drops were actually there with no assistance from me. Between the exceptional recent rainfall and the early morning hour, there was still lot of water on the plants.

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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Photographs: Nature

Tulip and Dew

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Tulip and Dew
Morning dew on a newly-opening tulip.

Tulip and Dew. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning dew on a newly-opeing tulip.

Those of you who know us realize that I’m not really the flower photographer in our household — that would be Patricia Emerson Mitchell. But sometimes she lets me tag along and try my hand at this subject. Recently we visited a local garden together on wet, post-rain morning, where we found that tulips and other bulbs were starting to bloom.

Sometimes tulips can have an almost-artificial perfection. That’s appealing, but I also like photographing flowers that are not quite perfect. (Sometimes I even seek out flowers that are staring to decay a bit, and I’ll even photograph flowers that have fallen to the ground.) The fascinating color gradations of this flower caught my attention.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Cactus-scape

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Cactus-scape
Close-up view of beavertail cactus, Death Valley National Park.

Cactus-scape. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Close-up view of beavertail cactus, Death Valley National Park.

Many of the photographs that I brought back from Death Valley last week feature the grand, immense scale of the landscape — which is only nature given the, well, grand, immense scale of the landscape of the place. Today I’ll take a break from those images and look share something on much smaller scale — a cactus-scape, if you will. This is a very close view of a small portion of a beavertail cactus. As I worked on landscape photography in this location I realized that these cacti were everywhere, so I soon switched to a different camera with a macro lens.

This subject may bring up the question: will this be a “super-bloom” year? I don’t have a definitive answer to that, but I’ll share a few observations. I have heard that above-average rainfall in about the November time frame supports those extraordinary spring blooms. That did not happen this year. But there was rain — quite heave and even damaging rain — much earlier in the season, and there was some additional rainfall during the December-January period. I did see some very young shoots of new plants already starting to pop up in a few promising areas. My bet? No super-bloom, but more of a good to better-than-average year for wildflowers.

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.