Tag Archives: flowering

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Bicycles and Red Door

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Bicycles and Red Door, Montpellier, France
“Bicycles and Red Door” — Parked bicycles in front of a hotel with a red door and a flowering bush, Montpellier.

What is it about bicycles? They turn up as photographic subjects all the time, on their own and as characters in street photography. (One for my favorite photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson features a bicycle.) It probably has something to do with things they represent or are associated with: a slower pace, the sensations of wind as you ride, closer contact with our surroundings. That is all preamble to this “bicycle photo” of mine, made on a street in Montpellier, France.

If I recall correctly, this may have been our last morning in this charming city before we left France and moved on to Zaragoza, Spain. While the title mentions the bicycles and they are prominent in the frame, I think that photograph is more about the lovely, soft light and the colors of the red door and the fascinating green plant growing next to 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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New York City

Two Walkers, Dogwood Tree

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Two walkers pass a flowering dogwood tree in Central Park.

Two Walkers, Dogwood Tree. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Two walkers pass a flowering dogwood tree in Central Park.

Photos are temporarily being shared without additional commentary. Watch for commentary to resume in late summer.

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

Dunes, Creosote, Sunrise Light

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Sunrise light shines on blossoming creosote bushes among undulating sand dunes

Dunes, Creosote, Sunrise Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunrise light shines on blossoming creosote bushes among undulating sand dunes.

Yes, this is yet another photograph of dunes in early morning light. I admit it, I cannot resist. (We probably spent more time than usual in the dunes on this trip because recent heavy rains had closed off access to a number of the non-dune locations I would have liked to visit.)

I made this photograph a few minutes later than some of the others I have shared. The strikingly warm light of dawn was already transitioning towards the more neutral daytime colors, but the sun was still low enough to send its light across the ridges of dunes and leave the valleys between them in the softer, shaded light. This small group of creosote bushes caught in the light was beginning to blossom.

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 and Amazon.

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

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

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

Dogwood Leaves, Spring

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Dogwood Leaves, Spring - New spring dogwood leaves after morning rain along Crane Flat Road, Yosemite National Park.
New spring dogwood leaves after morning rain along Crane Flat Road, Yosemite National Park.

Dogwood Leaves, Spring. Yosemite National Park, California. June 7, 2009. © Copyright 2009 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

New spring dogwood leaves after morning rain along Crane Flat Road, Yosemite National Park.

There is a grove of dogwood trees along highway 120 into Yosemite, between the park entrance and the valley, where I stop several times each seasons. Most recently I stopped there on a quiet autumn evening this past October when the dogwood leaves were turning fall colors. Much earlier in the season I stop to see and photograph the dogwood flowers. I made this photograph several years ago on my first visit to the grove that season, on a rainy morning when the leaves had emerged and the flowers were in bloom.

While the flowers were the main reason I visited the grove on this morning, it turned out that the flower photographs were less interesting, in some ways, than the photographs I made of the leaves of the dogwood trees and of other newly sprouted plants. Not only where the plants young and fresh and green, but the soft light and the drops of water from the light rain intensified the colors and made the light less harsh.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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