Tag Archives: garden

Photographs: Nature

Dahlia

Leave a comment
Dahlia
Dahlia blossom

Dahlia. Fort Bragg Botanical Gardens. Fort Bragg, California. July 5, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dahlia blossom.

I’m not usually the flower photographer around here — that title goes to my wife, Patty, whose passion is seeing and photographing the very small world of flowers. But every so often I give it a try. We spent some time one morning at the beautiful botanical gardens in Fort Bragg, where I made a few photographs including this one of a dark-colored dahlia blossom

We were in Northern California for a few days earlier this week, centered in the Mendocino area but traveling from there to places as far away as Humboldt Redwood State Park and even up to Ferndale, California. Overall it was not a tremendously successful trip for photography, at least not for me. (It was, however, a very successful trip for eating…) Photography in this area is perhaps more condition-dependent than in some other places where I photograph, and the conditions were difficult this time. No matter. Even when I don’t come back with a lot of photographs, I do come back with more knowledge of the place that I can can use the next time I’m there.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Umbrellas and Fog

Leave a comment
Umbrellas and Fog
“Umbrellas and Fog” — People with umbrellas walking through a foggy garden

This is a photograph from about five years ago when we made a winter trip to Southern California and ended up spending a day at the Getty Center. Since the time our oldest son went to UCLA I have been a fan of the Center, at least as much for the architecture and the grounds as for the art displays. (The art is wonderful, too, and they have a special focus on photography that often takes me back there.)

This was just the sort of day when normal people might not want to visit the Getty: it was cold and rainy and eventually the rain mixed with fog. I had a wonderful time photographing the fog-obscured architectural landscape and made many photographs with people passing through it. In fact, I came back from this single day of shooting with a group of photographs I like a great deal. At this moment I happened to be in an upper courtyard in a place that overlooks the garden as groups of people carrying umbrellas approached the sharp bend in the walkway from both directions.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature

Colorful Giant Leaf

Leave a comment

Colorful Giant Leaf
Colorful Giant Leaf

Colorful Giant Leaf. Garden, The Huntington, San Marino, California. November 28, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A giant leaf with brilliant fall colors, photographed lying on the ground

I have no clue what kind of leaf this is, and the location where I found it gave no hints. Usually if I find such a thing I can just look up and see the tree from which it came, but when I looked up from this leaf I could see nothing nearby with leaves even close to this one.

The leaf is huge — in my recollection it was well over a foot long. It was on the ground between some cacti and/or succulent plants in a desert garden at the Huntington. The colors were wild, and if there had been a tree full of huge and intensely colorful leaves like this one I would not have missed it! Initially I was attracted by the bright yellow color and the size, but the closer I looked the more I found that the other surprising colors caught my attention — bits of green, a spot of purple, and red highlights along some of the vein structure.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Agave Plants

Leave a comment

Agave Plants
Agave Plants

Agave Plants. Huntington Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California. November 28, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Agave plants, the Huntington botanical gardens

We spent the Thanksgiving Holiday in Southern California — and once we finished the Big Eating Day Celebration, we did other things. Well, OK, we ate more, too. Among those other things was a trip to the Huntington Library, etc. in San Marino, a place that we had not been to before. (The “etc.” above acknowledges the ridiculously long name of the place, a name the mentions galleries, library, and gardens. I wonder if people in the area perhaps just call it “The Huntington?”)

There was lots to see there. We started by focusing on art, both old and new — including an exhibit of photographs — and then moved on to lunch, followed by visits to a bunch of gardens: Chinese, Japanese, tropical, and desert. I wasn’t there primary for photography, but since I had a camera with me I did make a few photographs, including this close up of the beautiful leaves of this plant, whose form is almost always intriguing.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.