Tag Archives: gold

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

Desert Gold

Image April 3, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The wildflowers in California’s deserts and here in Death Valley National Park vary wildly from year to year depending on the amount of precipitation and its timing. There are always some flowers, but they are scarce when it is dry. Every so often the conditions shake out just right and the desert and mountains explode with color. It is hard to predict precisely when it will happen or to what degree. This year there was plenty of water, but the schedule was odd. When flowers bloomed way early (back in late 2023!) some thought that the spring color might be a bust — but that is not what seems to be happening.

I was surprised to find an extensive bloom of desert gold flowers stretching across upper Panamint Valley. I saw it when I arrived at the park, and days later it had grown stronger as I left. From what I saw — surprising blooms here and there and a lot of new green plants coming up — I won’t be surprised if this year’s bloom ultimately surpasses expectations.

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.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature

Submerged Autumn Leaves

Image January 22, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A confession: Although these are “submerged autumn leaves,” I photographed them on New Year’s Day. We spent the day in the Central Valley with friends, celebrating the new year and photographing birds and landscape. The location is primarily wetlands terrain, but there are cottonwood trees all around, and their colorful leaves were everywhere.

I stopped here after someone told me that they had spotted a single bird of an interesting and rare sort in an easily accessible spot. I spoke to a fellow who told me the bird had gracioiusly posed on a branch for him for ten minutes before flying away. Of course, it was gone when I got there! As I left I crossed a little bridge right where the bird wasn’t. I looked down into the water and spotted these interesting leaves.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows II

Image December 14, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Seeing a photograph here with the Roman numeral “II” attached you may wonder if there is a version “I.” There is, of course, and the first of the pair was posted a few days ago. In this case, the only significant difference is that this is a “landscape” orientation view of the scene and the other version used the “portrait” orientation. When the subject allows it I often photograph in both orientations — partly for practical reasons and partly because they both seem to work!

The scene is a type that I like a lot, at the elevation where the forests we expect in the high country meet high desert sagebrush country. The aspen trees seem to like both, and they are frequently a bridge between the two types of terrain. Here it is late in the afternoon (or perhaps early in the evening?) and long shadows are starting to stretch across the landscape.

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

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspens in a Row

Image December 13, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A row of colorful autumn aspen trees against a backdrop of rugged rocks.

Along the base of this rocky face, which parallels the shoreline of a subalpine eastern Sierra lake, aspen trees try to grow with the classic tall and straight form. They almost succeed, but the rocky soil seems to hold them back, and while they are fairly straight they are not that tall. However, because they are in the shadow of a ridge yet open to the light on the other side, they pick up lovely soft and reflected light.

Our initial plans did not work out on this morning. We arrived at a high-country lake hoping to find reflections of aspens and the surrounding peaks. Instead we encountered strong winds and rough water on the lake. There were no good reflections and leaves were coming down in the wind. However, there are almost always alternative subjects, and by using a long lens I was able to photograph these trees across the valley.