Tag Archives: green

Photographs: Macro, Photographs: Nature

Cattail

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Cattail
A spring cattail growing along a trail in the San Francisco Bay hills.

Cattail. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A spring cattail growing along a trail in the San Francisco Bay hills.

I made this at a place where I usually hike in the morning, a nearby park with trails where I can quickly get away and put in some miles. I don’t go primarily for photographic reasons, though I always carry a camera. This time my schedule made it possible to take an evening hike. I started after the dinner hour, set a turn-around time so that I’d get back to the car before the gate was closed, and I was off.

I went a couple of miles before my alarm reminded me that it was time to turn around. I retraced my steps, but now the soft evening light was starting to look interesting. Eventually I came to a large patch of dense cattails growing along the trail, something I had completely missed on the first half of the hike. I took a look at my watch, figured I could spare a few minutes, and set to work making close-up photographs of the lime-green cattails. (Note: I realize that I don’t know the actual definition of “cattail” plants…)

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.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Spring Fern

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Spring Fern
A spring fern grows in the shade among boulders along the base of Yosemite Valley cliffs.

Spring Fern. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A spring fern grows in the shade among boulders along the base of Yosemite Valley cliffs.

You might think that the toughest challenges on my one-day up-and-back trips to the Sierra — on one of which I made this photograph — would be getting up hours before sunrise and driving for hours, or perhaps it would be the long return drive with a midnight or later arrival. The truth? It is the midday hours. Photographically, this can be tough time of day. There are opportunities, but you have to look for them. And by late morning and early afternoon I’m simply tired from that early wake-up call… and ready for a good, long nap!

On this trip to Yosemite Valley, the pattern held. I arrived very early, photographed through the morning, following light and shadow around the Valley. At noon I grabbed a bite to eat and then… took a very long nap in my car. But the beautiful evening light was hours away on this long, late-spring day, so when I woke up I loaded my pack and set out to see what I could find in the midday light. I headed to an area along the base of the cliffs where I thought I might find some interesting rocks, trees, and soft shade light. And that’s where I photographed this sprouting fern, aglow in reflected light against a backdrop of forest litter and a boulder.

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.

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

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Photographs: Nature

Overlapping Leaves

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Overlapping Leaves
Bright spring leaves overlap in the spring gardens of the Filoli Center.

Overlapping Leaves. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Bright spring leaves overlap in the spring gardens of the Filoli Center.

Whether I find myself on a redwood trail or at a formal garden, I can never resist photographing the leaves of plants. They are among the subjects that supply a virtual infinity of shapes and colors and arrangements to work with — which still somehow surprises me. Are they thick or thin? Long or short? Dark or light? Smooth or veined? Back-lit or top-lit? Direct light or filtered? The expected green or any of a rainbow of other possibilities?

I found this plant (or, more correctly, these plants) tucked away in a corner at a large San Francisco Peninsula garden that we visited in late May. The growth was thick and the shadowed light was soft, which revealed a lot of texture and shape — of individual leaves and of the composite forms created by their overlapping arrangement.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Spring Cattails

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Spring Cattails
Spring cattails growing along a trail in the San Francisco Bay Area hills.

Spring Cattails. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Spring cattails growing along a trail in the San Francisco Bay Area hills.

Although I love to visit and photograph special, exotic, and distant places, there’s a lot to be said for the local spots I’ve come to know over decades of repeated visits. Because they are familiar it is easy to overlook how special they actually are — and how special my relationship with them is. This unassuming little photograph is from such a place.

There is a county park a half hour drive from my home, perhaps a dozen miles away. The park is large and mostly undeveloped, encompassing hardwood forest and grassland hills crisscrossed by old gravel roadways and narrow trails. Long ago I started going there at least in part for the mundane purposes of training for the real trips, my High Sierra backpacking adventures. But gradually the place grew on me as I hiked there in all seasons and all conditions and began to discover little off-the-grid places that few visit. I went there for an evening hike last week, and I passed by a surprising patch of cattails near the end of my walk as the light started to fade.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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