Tag Archives: foliage

Photographs: Nature

Leaves in Rain

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Leaves in Rain, Portland
“Leaves in Rain” — Leaves in rain, Portland, Oregon.

Californians have been dealing with strange weather patterns for more than a decade now — a five-year drought, a few years of way above average rainfall, and then the current season that has been almost completely rainless up until now. As I write this the pendulum is apparently about the swing the other direction, and the forecasts for my part of the state predict an “atmospheric river” storm later this week that has the potential to bring absurd amounts of rain over the course of a few days. It seems to be feast or famine, though the amount of recent rain famine has been the biggest concern.

While this photograph is evocative of the weather we’re about to have, it comes from a naturally wetter place a few hundred miles to the north, namely Portland, Oregon. On a spring visit a few years back we ended up in one of that cities urban parks on a cloudy and wet day, and as we wandered though gardens I stopped to photograph these leaves.

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.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Fern Vortex

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Fern Vortex
A spiraling arrangement of fern fronds in Northern California redwood forest.

Fern Vortex. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A spiraling arrangement of fern fronds in Northern California redwood forest.

We did not get back to the Redwood National and State Parks this past year — the time we would have gone coincided with that period when we were all locking down in response to the pandemic. In retrospect, it was perhaps starting to look like camping might have worked, but things were still in too much of a state of flux at that point. So this photograph comes from the previous season, back in June of 2019.

Late in the day we decided to head to a spot where I knew from experience the tit might be possible to find rhododendron blossoms growing among the redwood trees, a place where the normally dark forest tends to pick up a bit more light from the west in the late afternoon. We wandered a trail and eventually descended into an area full of ferns. Here I turned my attention away from the huge trees and looked downwards to find compositions among the ferns.

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: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Urban Forest Spring

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Urban Forest Spring
Spring leaves on a tree in front of San Francisco’s One Front Street building.

Urban Forest Spring. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring leaves on a tree in front of San Francisco’s One Front Street building.

Today’s photograph temporarily climbs out of the sandstone valleys and slot canyons of Utah to enter a different kind of canyon in the urban landscape. This striking building is found in downtown San Francisco, and I’ve photographed it quite a few times during my street photography walks in The City. Unfortunately, those are on hold right now due to the lock-down, so I mined this one from my old raw file collection.

While I don’t approach photographing the natural landscape and the city in exactly the same way, there are more connections than might seem to be the case at first. I look for shape and line in both cases, and I consider how things are juxtaposed in both landscapes. And here, as in essentially photography, light is a key factor. One thing that is a bit more present in urban photography — and which is a source of interest to me — is the way that reflections play into the compositions.

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.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Garden Gate

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Garden Gate
An entry gate to the Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon.

Garden Gate. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An entry gate to the Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon.

Some years back our youngest son and our daughter-in-law lived in the lovely and quirky city of Portland, Oregon. Since it is (just barely, if you have a lot of endurance!) a one-day drive from the San Francisco Bay Area we managed to get up there somewhat regularly, and we came to like the place a lot. Among other things, it is a city of gardens, including several that we visited more than once. This photograph of a stone walkway passing through a gate comes from the lovely Japanese Garden.

Having roots in a non-west-coast part of America (long ago, but they stick with you), I can understand how the character of towns along the Pacific coast is difficult for some to understand in other parts of the country. But Oregon is a wonderful place that is hard to characterize in any single way. There is a long tradition of a kind of counter-culture there, but there is also a large suburban population. Don’t believe the simplistic, politicized claims that the city is “under siege” or a hotbed of some kind of awfulness that requires federal intervention.

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.