Tag Archives: foliage

Creekside Trail, Central California

Creekside Trail, Central California

Creekside Trail, Central California. Calero Hills, California. February 21, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A creekside trail through forest of oak and laurel trees at Calero County Park, California.

After a long – but welcome! – bout of rainy weather here in Central California, last weekend I managed to get out for a hike in my favorite local oak/grassland park. It was a cloudy day with very diffused light, but I decided to do a bit of photography with my new camera – but instead of taking my usual complement of lenses I carried only three primes, at 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm. This photograph was made with the 35mm lens and an interesting aspect of the scene for for me was the incredibly rich detail of new growth, old leaves on the forest floor, and the many small branches of trees and brush. (I’m afraid that much of that detail isn’t visible in this small jpg, but there isn’t much to be done about that.)

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: calero, hills, park, santa clara, county, public, path, trail, creek, brook, water, reflection, oak, laurel, tree, forest, grove, leaf, trunk, branch, hike, winter, california, usa, nature, landscape, green, new, plants, growth, damp, stock, foliage, vegetation, root

Mesquite Dunes, Dusk

Mesquite Dunes, Dusk

Mesquite Dunes, Dusk. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mesquite Sand Dune folds recede into the distance into the distance beyond foreground desert plants in Death Valley National Park, California.

This is a slightly different take on a scene that I have posted previously. The photograph of the Mesquite Dune complex near Stovepipe Wells was shot near twilight on the first evening of my 2008 visit to Death Valley. My brother and I had just met up at the Stovepipe Wells campground, set up camp and eaten dinner, and noticed that it was far closer to the end of the day than we had realized. We quickly hightailed it down the road a couple miles to an area close to the dunes and had just enough time to make some long lens photographs from the road side as the light faded.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: death valley, national park, california, usa, landscape, scenic, travel, stock, mesquite, dunes, stovepipe, wells, sand, folds, pattern, light, pink, blue, green, foliage, dusk, sunset, twilight, footprints, prints, steps, waves, funeral, mountains, range, desert

Dry Grasses, Morning Light

Dry Grasses, Morning Light

Dry Grasses, Morning Light. Calero Hills, California. February 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Golden dry grasses in morning light at Calero Hills, California.

I photographed these grasses and seeds near Castillero Pond at Calero on yet another sunny and dry winter morning on the first day of February.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: golden, brown, grasses, seeds, stem, leaf, morning, light, bokeh, blur, blade, calero, hills, santa clara, county, park, winter, california, usa, nature, foliage, plant, landscape, scenic, stock

Winter Cattails and Grasses

Winter Cattails and Grasses

Winter Cattails and Grasses. Calero Hills, California. February 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter cattails and grasses at Calero Hills, California.

At the start of today’s “photo hike” at Calero Park I walked to Castillero Pond. I had the 100-400 lens on my camera, anticipating that there might be some birds to photograph at the pond. When I arrived there weren’t really any interesting bird subjects, but I went ahead and used the long lens to shoot these plants alongside the pond, since the long focal length does a fine job of isolating a subject and throwing the background out of focus.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: cat, tail, cattail, grass, blade, stem, leaf, bokeh, blur, seed, fuzz, sun, light, morning, brown, golden, castillero, pond, calero, hills, county, park, santa clara, nature, foliage, landscape, winter, stock, california, usa, dry, drop, droplet