Tag Archives: fog

Photographs: Nature

Spring Flowers, Mountains, And Clearing Fog

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Spring Flowers, Mountains, And Clearing Fog
Morning fog dissipates above wildflower-covered California hills.

Spring Flowers, Mountains, And Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog dissipates above wildflower-covered California hills.

This photograph is a bit unusual in that it is a second version of a photograph I posted recently. By that I do not mean a similar photograph made at about the same time — I mean the very same exposure interpreted in two different ways. The primary difference is the presentation in a 2:1 aspect ratio panoramic landscape orientation which, I think, emphasizes the horizontal scale of the landscape and perhaps brings a bit more attention to the dissipating fog.

I made the photograph on a spring morning in 2019 during a visit to an inland California valley where wildflowers may erupt for a few weeks in wet years, transforming a scene that is usually dry and brown into one of lush greens and the vibrant colors of carpets of wildflowers. The morning began with thick tule fog, and I made the photograph just as the last bits of the fog were dissipating.

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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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wildflowers and Fog

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Wildflowers and Fog
California spring wildflowers recede into tule fog.

Wildflowers and Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

California spring wildflowers recede into tule fog.

This photograph continues with the theme of last year’s California spring season and my travels to photograph it. (Travel? Remember that?) This location among the range of hills between the coastal areas and the Great Central Valley is full of grasslands, oak-covered hills, though it becomes increasingly dry as you travel further south and east. That particular spot seems almost desert-like during much of the year. But during a short period in late-winter and early-spring, especially in a wet year, it springs to life. Hills are covered in green and there is a climax of extensive and beautiful wildflowers.

Here the wildflowers stretch for miles across the lowlands of a giant valley that runs alongside the San Andreas earthquake fault. A typical photograph of this location might show that expanse and the hills in the distance. But on this morning tule fog arrived and reduced the size of the visible world down to a radius of a few hundred feet — albeit a spectacularly colorful radius!

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.

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.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Spring Flowers, Mountains, And Clearing Fog

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Spring Flowers, Mountains, And Clearing Fog
Morning fog dissipates above wildflower-covered California hills.

Spring Flowers, Mountains, And Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog dissipates above wildflower-covered California hills.

On this Easter Sunday morning, here in the San Francisco Bay Area it is gray and gloomy, with drizzle falling. I have just returned from my morning “socially-distance” walk around the neighborhood, and few people are to be seen. Normally I like weather like this, but today it reminded me how much life has changed in the past month, and that it will likely not return to the old normal for quite a while. Returning home, I decided to engage in a bit more “virtual spring” escapism and share this photograph.

At about this time a year ago I was out and about. I spent some time in this area on my way to Death Valley, and I made a second, shorter trip, too. On this morning I took a drive down a wide flower-filled valley between hills as morning fog cleared, stopping whenever and wherever I felt like it, enjoying the sun’s warmth, and making photographs.

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.

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.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Dawn Fog, California Hills

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Dawn Fog, California Hills
Sunrise fog drifts across springtime California hills under overcast skies.

Dawn Fog, California Hills. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunrise fog drifts across springtime California hills under overcast skies.

The fact that I’m unable to be in the field making new photographs right now is a good reminder that photography is more than taking a camera into the field to find and capture subjects. There is a lot that happens before the exposure — perhaps years of accumulated experience with subjects and how they might be photographs. And there is a lot that happens after the exposure — review, selection, experimentation, carrying out the plan for images that I had in mind when I made the exposures, and more. For now I’m living photographically mostly in that post-exposure world.

I photographed this scene on a memorable morning last spring in a remote area of California hills. I was there to photograph flowers, but this lovely morning of fog and soft dawn light distracted me. It was one of those wonderful unexpected moments in photography that reminded me of how much serendipity is involved in this endeavor.

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.

Blog | About | 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.

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