Tag Archives: green

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Monterey Cypress Trees, Fog, Carmel Peninsula

March 28, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Carmel Peninsula is barely visible though fog beyond Monterey Cypress trees along the north shore of Point Lobos State Reserve.

This was a typical summer day in coastal California – completely socked in by a thick, gray blanket of cold, wet fog! The light was somewhat dismal, so it wasn’t a day for typical “scenic” landscape or seascape photography, though the colors of the plants and trees were saturated by the soft light and the distant peninsula faded almost to monochrome though the fog across the bay.

These Monterey cypress trees grow along the tops of the rocky cliffs above this part of the Pacific Ocean, in some of the most exposed and precipitous locations imaginable. In some spots they are left exposed to the full force of the ocean winds and winter storms, and they grow close to the ground, following the contours of the rocky terrain in ways that remind me of trees growing in exposed locations near timberline in the Sierra. In other spots they are a bit more sheltered and they seem to be able to “stretch out” a bit, as these trees do along a section of the rocky cliffs that faces more into the bay than out to sea.

The bay holds the outlet of the Carmel River, and the peninsula visible across the water in the distance is the coastline of the town of Carmel. The foreground trees are within the boundaries of the Point Lobos State Reserve.

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

Remains of a Desert Plant, Pebbles

March 9, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The skeletal branches of a dead plant against the pebbles of a desert wash, Death Valley National Park, California.

I came across the skeletal remains of this desert plant while photographing along the east side of Death Valley near the area identified on some maps as the Kit Fox Hills. I had just finished photographing across the floor of the Valley, capturing an area full of sparse desert plants backlit by the very last rays of sun, and the light had diminished after the sun dropped below the tops of the ridges on the west side of the Valley.

I saw this bit of dead plant near the edge of a wash among the rubble of many-colored rocks and pebbles that had, I presume, been washed down from the canyons in the mountains to the east. For a place that seems so colorless from a distance, there is an astonishing variety of color in these rocks. I can see greens, blues, various shades of pink and purple, and some that almost are orange. The branches are just as I found them, and the soft light with just a bit of directionality from the right fills the shadows that would otherwise be very dark.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Metal Walled Building With Door, Tree and Lawn, Night

March 6, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photograph of a metal walled building with a door, sidewalk, lawn, and tree – Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

This is a bit of a different sort of night photograph compared to the others I have posted in this recent series. (Most of those were shot at some distance from my subjects – generally old, historic buildings – and in very saturated and colorful light.) Near the end of my evening shoot at Mare Island in late February I was walking back from a dark and lonely corner of the place when I passed a more modern facility, an out-patient clinic of some sort. This facility is something of a stark contrast to the surrounding area. The building is relatively new and the walls are not the usual brick and/or corrugated metal, but instead are a more modern-looking sort of metal paneling. There is landscaping, including small patches of lawn and small trees. And the light is completely different. Elsewhere in the darker areas of Mare Island the lighting tends toward yellow, coming from sodium vapor lamps, though it also includes green and occasionally other hues. But here the light is fairly neutral and actually looks almost white. I wasn’t quite sure what to do! :-)

But then it seemed to me that it might be interesting to see what I could do with this modern (though not flawless) structure and its surrounding landscaping. Here a small door, partly blocked by some sort of signs, leads into a very small section of a building and is lit a bit mysteriously from above. Sidewalks lead away from the door and a small, forlorn patch of lawn sits near the corner of the building, with a single leafless tree supported by stakes. When I saw this spot and when I look at the photograph now I get this feeling that there should be some story behind all of this… but I have no idea what it might be.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Industrial Building, Stop Sign, Night

March 5, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photograph of an old industrial building and a stop sign beneath sky with star trails, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard.

This old building at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard appears to be some sort of warehouse and loading dock, judging by the raised flat area attached to the front of the building and the large doors. I made the photograph from the middle of a large empty parking lot, and in addition to the horizontal form of the yellow corrugated metal building, I wanted to include the green glow through the windows at the far left and the red stop sign. The sky has a bit of a warm glow that is coming from the urban areas of the East Bay – Mare Island is on the fringe of this area.

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