Tag Archives: intimate

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

Small Tree and Pothole

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Small Tree and Pothole
A small tree grows out of a pothole in stained granite rock, Yosemite National Park

Small Tree and Pothole. Yosemite National Park, California. September 9, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small tree grows out of a pothole in stained granite rock, Yosemite National Park

The more time I spend wandering around and photographing on granite domes and slabs, the more astonished I am at the trees and other plants that find ways to survive in the most marginal of conditions. Often we look at the trees growing on these domes and perhaps fail to consider how old they are — a three-foot tree here may be a mature tree — or how tenuously they seem to find sustenance in small cracks, potholes, and low spots where a bit of soil collects. In fact, as the trees and other plants take hold they seem to create their own soil as needles and old growth decay in these places.

Somehow this little tree managed to take root and survive in a small pothole in otherwise smooth granite, no doubt taking advantage of the fact that the bit of soil in the pothole holds some moisture. In typical form, the tree appears twisted and stunted, being perhaps only a couple of feet long and with a trunk that seems to have had a hard time making up its mind about which way to grow. The tree does not stand up from the rock at all, instead lying flat on its reddish surface.

Note: Edited slightly in 2024.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest Floor, Late Summer

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Forest Floor, Late Summer, Sierra Nevada High Country
“Forest Floor, Late Summer” — Late-summer forest floor littered with fallen cones, branches, needles, and leaves.

As summer comes to an end in the high country of the Sierra Nevada, as it was during my early September visit this year, the moisture, growth, and greenery of the early season give way to the drier and more brown conditions signaling the coming of fall. The short period of rapid summer growth ends, and the mountains seems quieter.

We camped and photographed for several days at a small lake, exploring and even revisiting to places to photograph them more than once. By staying in one location for a time, it we notice things that are overlooked during a shorter stay. Initially the dramatic granite features around the lake drew our attention, but after a few days we became more interested in subtler things, including a low, grassy area near the outlet stream of the lake. On this morning I was simply wandering slowly though this area, now looking more closely and at smaller things, when I saw the still-shadowed ground densely covered by a carpet of pine cones.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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

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

Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean

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Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean
Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean

Rocky Shoreline, Pacific Ocean. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. April 27, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sandstone shoreline rocks along the Pacific Ocean coast at Point Lobos State Reserve

I’ve been sitting on this photograph for some time, perhaps because it isn’t exactly a spectacular scene but more of a familiar and subtle one with personal connections. During a busy period earlier this spring I had not been able to find time to photograph my favorite subjects for a few weeks and I was itching to get out… so I simply headed out one morning to this familiar location.

I’ve been going to Point Lobos for decades, since I was a very young child and my family would make day trips down there. In those days we would explore rocks just like these —in fact, they may have been these very rocks — and investigate nearby tide pools. On this spring morning there were few other visitors, perhaps because of the high cloudiness that was making the day almost a bit gray and softening in the light.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Plants, Canyon Wall

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Plants, Canyon Wall
Plants, Canyon Wall

Plants, Canyon Wall. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Plants grow from thin cracks in the rock wall of a desert canyon, Death Valley National Park

I found this little scene in a well-known Death Valley Canyon, where the walls become vertical, hundreds of feet high, and quite close together. Canyons like this are some strange combination of beautiful — with soft light, colorful rock, shade — and harsh — with the clear evidence of flooding that periodically sweeps through and rearranges everything, against a backdrop of more typical aridity, and a terrain almost entirely consisting of rock.

In these places I am always intrigued by where and how plant life manages to survive. This is nowhere more true than in such canyons in Death Valley National Park, where the usual challenges are made worse by extreme heat and dryness. Here two kinds of plants have managed to find a foothold, but in must be a very tenuous one. The grow from thin cracks in solid rock, a good distance above whatever water comes during the periodic flooding of the wash, in an environment in which the light is most often muted yet in which extreme temperatures are common for much of the year.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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.