Tag Archives: green

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Fern Vortex

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Fern Vortex
A spiraling arrangement of fern fronds in Northern California redwood forest.

Fern Vortex. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A spiraling arrangement of fern fronds in Northern California redwood forest.

We did not get back to the Redwood National and State Parks this past year — the time we would have gone coincided with that period when we were all locking down in response to the pandemic. In retrospect, it was perhaps starting to look like camping might have worked, but things were still in too much of a state of flux at that point. So this photograph comes from the previous season, back in June of 2019.

Late in the day we decided to head to a spot where I knew from experience the tit might be possible to find rhododendron blossoms growing among the redwood trees, a place where the normally dark forest tends to pick up a bit more light from the west in the late afternoon. We wandered a trail and eventually descended into an area full of ferns. Here I turned my attention away from the huge trees and looked downwards to find compositions among the ferns.

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 and Amazon.

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

Autumn Aspens, Hillside Grove

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Autumn Aspens, Hillside Grove
A grove of autumn aspens ascends an Eastern Sierra hillside.

Autumn Aspens, Hillside Grove. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A grove of autumn aspens ascends an Eastern Sierra hillside.

If you we thinking that I’d be finished with this year’s fall color photographs by now… well, you’d be mistaken! And this won’t be the last one either. To review, it was a strange color season for me in the Eastern Sierra. On the plus side, I made it up there to photograph, and the colors were more spectacular than in many other recent years. On the not-so-plus side, the pandemic made travel a bit more complex, and wildfire smoke interfered with photography… and breathing!

I made this photograph in a place that I originally thought had mostly revealed what it had to offer. But I stop here every year, look at many familiar things and think there’s nothing new to see, linger a bit, and then start to see elements of the scene that suggest new photographs. This is one of those. I’m sure I’ve looked at this frame in the past, but perhaps the colors weren’t quite right or it was a different time of day. Whatever the reasons, this time it seemed to work.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Canyon Cottonwood Trees

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Canyon Cottonwood Trees
Cottonwood trees with autumn leaves in a Utah canyon.

Canyon Cottonwood Trees. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

© Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

I came across this pair of cottonwood trees while walking up a lovely, narrow canyon in Southern Utah some years back. It is the same canyon I’ve mentioned in previous posts — the one where I had my very first introduction to the joys of exploring red rock canyons. I was here on this occasion with a couple of photographer friends.

There are, of course, quite a few cottonwood trees in Utah. (To say the least!) Why these two? I was impressed by just how different they were, despite growing in virtually the same spot and in the same conditions. Part of this can be explained, no doubt, by a difference in their ages. But such trees are also profoundly affected by the happenstance of where they sprout — is the soil shallow or deep, does it flood, is it rocky? The tree on the left still retains quite a few green leaves, it no longer has any lower branches on its straight trunk. The tree on the right seems like a veritable teenager, with its yellow leaves and its less solid structure — though if you look close you can make out the shape of its future growth, too.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | 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: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn Cottonwood, Canyon Walls

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Autumn Cottonwood, Canyon Walls
An old canyon cottonwood tree approaching peak fall color, Utah.

Autumn Cottonwood, Canyon Walls. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old canyon cottonwood tree approaching peak fall color, Utah.

A small group of photographers spent a day exploring this out-of-the-way canyon far out in the Southern Utah backcountry. If a friend had not shared the location with us I probably never would have gone here, and I am deeply grateful that he introduced us to the place.

We began at a totally nondescript pull-out off of a long gravel road, a place where I would never have expected to find such a canyon. We began walking on the dry flatlands and soon dropped into a shallow canyon with some sandstone along the bottom. As per the common pattern, as we walked the side walls began to quickly rise above us, and before long we were deep in a beautiful and lonely canyon. My recollection is that we saw no one other than our party that day. This grizzled old cottonwood stood near the junction of our canyon and a side canyon seen in the upper background.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | 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.