Tag Archives: growth

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

Redwoods and Big Leaf Maples, Gazos Creek

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Redwoods and Big Leaf Maples, Gazos Creek - Redwood and big leaf maple forest along Gazos Creek, California
Redwood and big leaf maple forest along Gazos Creek, California

Redwoods and Big Leaf Maples, Gazos Creek. Northern California. July 12, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Redwood and big leaf maple forest along Gazos Creek, California.

I recall that on this day I had gone out to photograph along the Pacific coastline between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, California, mostly without any specific plan. First I had gone to one of my favorite Highway 1 bluffs to photograph the birds that pass within a few feet of it as they coast along the coastal updrafts. Then I moved north along the coast and discovered a group of kite surfers at one of the beaches, so I stopped and photographed them for a while.

Continuing north I came to a turn off to one of the many small roads that head up into the mountains that lie between the shoreline and the urban areas around San Francisco Bay. I took it and found myself driving along this narrow and twisty road that followed the bottom of a valley holding a small creek. The bottom of the steep and narrow canyon was deeply shaded by thick forest, including some stands of second-growth redwoods. This photograph was made in a nameless section of the valley where there was a spot to pull over and photograph the soft light filtering down through the moss-covered trees.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are 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: Architecture, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Urban Spring

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Urban Spring - New spring growth against a backdrop of downtown San Francisco buildings.
New spring growth against a backdrop of downtown San Francisco buildings.

Urban Spring. San Francisco, California. April 20,2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

New spring growth against a backdrop of downtown San Francisco buildings.

I was covering familiar ground through essentially the financial district area of downtown San Francisco while on an April walk through the city to shoot street and urban landscape subjects. This building is familiar to almost anyone in San Francisco, and perhaps to many who have seen photographs of the striking exterior that are often seen online. The difference this time was that the downtown trees, that are a rare nod to the natural world in this almost wholly constructed environment, were just beginning to leaf out with new spring greenery and providing a sort of ironic counterpoint to the hard, reflective, and angular surfaces of the architecture.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Cottonwood Trees and Sandstone, Spring

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Cottonwood Trees and Sandstone, Spring - A stand of cottonwoods with new spring growth against the backdrop of the vertical sandstone walls of Zion Canyon, Utah.
A stand of cottonwoods with new spring growth against the backdrop of the vertical sandstone walls of Zion Canyon, Utah.

Cottonwood Trees and Sandstone, Spring. Zion National Park, Utah. April 4. 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A stand of cottonwoods with new spring growth against the backdrop of the vertical sandstone walls of Zion Canyon, Utah.

I’ve seen so many beautiful photographs of cottonwood (and other) trees against sandstone cliffs, that I was anxious to search out some such scenes when I went to Zion and other Southwest locations in early April. After arriving in the town of Springdale, near the entrance to Zion and the Virgin River canyon, we headed up into the canyon for our first visit. Although I had seen plenty of photographs from the area, I had made a point of not researching any specific locations or shots – I’d rather find my own. As we entered the canyon, a friend’s description of the place as “Yosemite in red” came to mind – though this canyon in Zion has a much smaller and more intimate scale.

From the upper park service tram stop, we continued on up the canyon on the easy trail. If I were evaluating my day based on how far I hiked, it would have been a failure. I hardly ever walked more than a few dozen yards at a time without stopping to look around or scope out some new photographic opportunity. These trees were growing on the opposite side of the river, right up against the vertical sandstone walls, and the lack of direct sun softened the light on these trees and their brand new spring leaves.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are 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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

The Watchman and the Virgin River, Morning

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The Watchman and the Virgin River, Morning - The virgin River curves towards the Watchman in early morning light, Zion National Park, Utah.
The virgin River curves towards the Watchman in early morning light, Zion National Park, Utah.

The Watchman and the Virgin River, Morning. Zion National Park, Utah. April 4, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The virgin River curves towards the Watchman in early morning light, Zion National Park, Utah.

The peak in the upper portion of this photograph, The Watchman, with the curve of the Virgin River in the foreground is, as I understand it, one of the iconic photographic subjects of Zion National Park – perhaps being roughly equivalent to a photograph of Yosemite’s Half Dome from the Sentinel Bridge in The Valley. The funny thing, though, is that while I had seen this view of this subject many times in the photographs of others, I actually had no idea where it was or that I would see it when I visited Zion National Park earlier this month. I had somewhat intentionally avoided doing any real research about the places I would photograph, preferring instead to just confront them for what they are, unaffected as much as possible by previous notions about what I “should” photograph.

So, as we rode the shuttle bus into the park from the town of Springdale in the afternoon and crossed a bridge over the Virgin River before heading up into the canyon, I looked to my right and thought, “Oh, it is that view!” I have heard the stories and have seen the pictures of hordes of photographers lined up on this bridge, specifically to shoot this scene with fall colors and at sunset. (You can see a couple of examples by photographer and friend Gary Crabbe here.) I generally don’t seek out the icons, though I most certainly will photograph them if a) I haven’t photographed them before and/or b) there is something unusual or different about the conditions when I’m there. Although I did not stop and get off the bus to photograph the scene on that first evening, in the back of my mind I considered stopping if it looked interesting the next morning. And, in fact, as we took the shuttle back into the park very early the next morning – starting before sunrise, actually – it seemed like it might be worth hopping off after the bridge and taking a look. I was more encourage when we got there, both by the interesting soft dawn light and the lack of any other photographers on the bridge. So, there you go – I now have a photograph of the Watchman and the Virgin River, too! :-)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.