Tag Archives: golden

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Redwood Forest Ferns

January 7, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

A dense growth of ferns grows beneath the coast redwood trees at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I continue my year end (though it new extends into the new “year beginning”) review of all of the past year’s raw files with this photograph from May 2010. In this part of California, May is a time of transition. Although the calendar still says spring, in the moderate climate of coastal California the wild growth of early spring is over, and many annual plants have reached maturity. To see these ferns in growth mode you would have to visit the redwood forest earlier. But by May, especially here where the forest holds the moisture longer and keeps the temperatures cooler, many plants have reached their peak of growth. These ferns were growing alongside one of the trails through the main, popular section of the park – though I avoid the crowds of tourists coming across the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco and get the soft and beautiful morning light by arriving at Muir Woods very early.

This photograph is 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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Fog, San Francisco, Dawn

December 20, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Winter fog illuminated by dawn light engulfs the skyline of San Francisco.

The conditions changed radically during the half hour or so during which I stopped on my way to Muir Woods to photograph the San Francisco skyline from above the Golden Gate Bridge. I was initially concerned that the morning would be too clear, since I am usually more interested in scenes with varied atmosphere. When I arrived it was mostly clear, though there was a bit of low fog out over the bay and some low clouds clustered above San Francisco, especially the downtown area where the tops of buildings were in the clouds.

I made a series of photographs of the skyline using my longest lens – others may appear here before long. This was one of the last ones I was able to make as the clouds thickened and eventually blocked my view completely. (What had started as a largely bright and clear early morning eventually evolved into a very foggy scene.)

This photograph is 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: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fern and Redwood Log

December 19, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A fern drapes across a redwood log littered with leaves and needles at Muir Woods National Monument.

I’m always a sucker for the interesting forms of the ferns in the redwood forest, here at Muir Woods National Monument and elsewhere. This curving example was lying across the surface of an old, dead fallen redwood trunk, and was accompanied by some brown ferns, a few odd redwood needles, and what I think may be a brown bay leaf.

Although this was shot near the very end of fall, the atmosphere at Muir Woods was very much that of winter. There was just a bit of thin fog floating around here and there, and on the forest floor beneath the giant trees it was very damp and quiet and dark. (If you want evidence of the low light… note that this was a 15 second exposure!)

This photograph is 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: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Mushrooms, Redwood Log

December 18, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Winter mushrooms grow on a redwood log at Muir Woods National Monument.

Yesterday I decided to squeeze in a quick shoot in the Muir Woods area on a relatively nice day before what promises to be a week of substantial rain. So I was on the road early, stopping at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge to photograph the San Francisco Bay at sunrise before continuing on to Muir Woods. I arrived pretty early – I know I’m there early when I get the very first parking space closest to the entrance!

This is a beautiful time of year in the redwood forest, but there seems to be a smaller number of visitors. I suppose the wetness may keep them away – there is mud and water everywhere – and not everyone is willing to deal with the cold. The main grove at Muir Woods sits in the bottom of a canyon that doesn’t get a whole lot of sun this time of year, especially very early and late in the day. Combine wet with cold and low light… and you can understand why it was a fairly quiet morning there, with only a few other people wandering about.

I know that winter is the mushroom season in places like this, but I was very surprised by the number of mushrooms growing there yesterday and my the astonishing variety of types. There were the large curving brown ones (sorry, I’m not a mushroom ID expert, to say the least!) clustered in the upper area of this shot, the brightly colored yellow ones, tiny white ones, and many other shapes and colors and textures. I wish that I could have stayed longer to photograph more of them, but I think I’ll try to return after the current cycle of storms ends.

I’ll add a couple of photographic observations here, too. First, this is another shot that demonstrates, I think, the usefulness of the 70-200mm zoom lens. Working here at close to minimum focus distance, the longer focal length gave me a bit of working room and still provided a nice background blur. Second, the redwood forest is a very dark place! I don’t know how you could shoot these subjects handheld – this shot used a 6 second exposure!

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

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: golden

Redwood Forest Ferns

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Fern and Redwood Log

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Mushrooms, Redwood Log

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.