Tag Archives: flora

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Green and Red Leaves

September 2, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Green and red leaves in Mendocino, California suggest the coming of autumn.

I really wish I knew what plant this is… but I don’t! What I do know, however, is that when I spotted it growing along the edge of a building in Mendocino, California, the red and yellow tinge coming to the lush green leaves made me think of autumn and how close the end of summer is. Even in California, the signs that the seasons are in transition are more and more obvious when you look around just a bit. Not only do the colors begin to change on some plants, especially in cooler areas like Mendocino (and in higher elevation areas like the Sierra) but other signs appear to those who have learned to recognize them. There is a change in the light. I’ve never been quite able to quantify it, but it may be something about lower sun angles or perhaps the increasingly soft atmosphere that often seems a bit more hazy.

While this might seem like a photograph of a natural area, perhaps along a trail somewhere, I’m afraid it isn’t. No matter where I am, I often keep my eyes open for little scenes in unexpected places that might make a photograph, and this is certainly one of those. As I passed along the side of a small shop in Mendocino, I saw these plants in a very small planter next to a wall. I quickly pulled out my camera and made a single hand-held shot in this beautiful, soft light created by foggy sky and a bit of a bit of shade.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Plants, Granite, Morning Light

August 31, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A few sparse plants grow in thin cracks in granite slabs, Yosemite National Park.

Portions of the Sierra high country in Yosemite have been heavily glaciated. The evidence is widespread and familiar in all of its variations: domes, U-shaped canyons, remnant glacial ice-fields and a few vestigial glaciers, glacial erratics everywhere, a terrain crossed with the remains of lateral, medial, and terminal moraines. And it places, such as this area along Tioga Pass Road, there are huge expanses of granite slabs, sloping and rounded nearly solid rock broken by cracks and dikes and surrounded by the debris of gradual erosion.

Lots of things managed to live on and in these slabs. The tiniest cracks collect sand, then dust and gravel, and soon small plants spring up and even wildflowers. In some places – including the more distant ridge in this photograph – large trees manage to sustain themselves by growing entirely in these cracks. In this photograph I juxtaposed the nearby small plants crowing in a couple of shallow cracks with the receding sequence of rolling dome-like ridges with shattered rock and a few trees, some of which catch the early morning sun, with details softened by the (perhaps unusual, for landscape photography) use of a small aperture to minimize depth of field.

Photographs: Nature

Flowers, Wockner Hospice Center Gardens

August 27, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Flowers photographed in the Commemorative Garden at the Gene and Irene Wockner Hospice Center, Kirkland, Washington.

This is a continuation of a series of photographs I made in the garden at the Wockner Hospice Center in Kirkland, Washington in early August, on a late afternoon when I had an hour to walk slowly and quietly among the plants and flowers. The daylily flowers were actually very colorful, including shades of purple, burgundy, reds, yellow and backed by a wash of deep green from the background plants. While the other photographs in this series are in color, I thought I would try this one in monochrome.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Purple and Yellow Lilies

August 11, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Purple and yellow lilies in the Commemorative Garden at the Gene and Irene Wockner Hospice Center.

Yes, more lilies… These were also photographed in the Commemorative Garden at the Wockner Hospice in Kirkland, Washington. While I probably spent more time on some nearby daylilies that were bright red and yellow, these darker purple variants were nearby in the same shaded area of the garden.

For those who like equipment talk, a bit of information. (I’m not immune, but this subject can become a distraction from photography) I made this series of photographs using a 135mm f/2 prime lens. This lens lets me place the sharper portions of the flowers against a soft, blurry background, and even lets me blur portions of the main subject – the slightly long focal length and the large aperture make for very narrow depth of field.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: flora

Green and Red Leaves

Plants, Granite, Morning Light

Flowers, Wockner Hospice Center Gardens

Purple and Yellow Lilies

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.