Tag Archives: landsape

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Imaginary Landscapes, Photographs: Nature

Winter Plants

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Winter Plants
Winter plants growing in a wetland pond, Central Valley, California.

Winter Plants. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Winter plants growing in a wetland pond, Central Valley, California.

Moving away from the recent large-scale landscape photographs, this one focuses on a small group of plants standing in a shallow Central Valley wetland pond. It is my assumption that the plants grow on dry land, but then this particular area floods in the winter and these simple plants become magical against the smooth background of the water’s surface.

This photograph is not exactly a literal reproduction of the plants’ appearance. Of course, no photograph is exactly equivalent to the complex reality of the subject, but here I went a bit further than usual — though still trying to work within the constraints of believability.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Pond, Clearing Fog

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Tule fog begins to clear above a Central Valley pond on a late-autumn morning.

Pond, Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Tule fog thins above a Central Valley pond on a late-autumn morning.

The core of my landscape photography follows a pattern linked to the seasons — no surprise, I suppose, since the landscape is so profoundly affected by seasonal changes. Every year at this time my attention turns to California’s Great Central Valley, where the combination of migratory birds, tule fog, and its minimal landscape become my focus. I finally made it out there this week for the first time this season.

I suppose “normal people” would avoid this area on a day like this. Objectively speaking, this thick fog is not conducive to travel, and those who live there get tired of days and weeks of the cold and damp. But these conditions turn a landscape that can be a bit pedestrian into something mysterious and atmospheric. When I arrived before dawn the fog was so thick that I couldn’t see more than perhaps a hundred feet. But shortly after sunrise the fog began to drift and thin, faint windows opened in the sky above, and soft light began to subtly illuminate the landscape.

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

Photographs: Pandemia, Photographs: Utah

Postcard From Pandemia #1

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Postcard From Pandemia #1
A bench, a wall, a warning sign, and a door in sunlight.

Postcard From Pandemia #1. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bench, a wall, a warning sign, and a door in sunlight.

Photography is perhaps low on the list of the world’s priorities during a pandemic, when millions are infected and tens of thousands have died so far. But the world doesn’t stop for this, and we go on doing what we do as best we can — there is really no other choice, in my view.

My ability to make photographs of the subjects I would normally focus on right now has been extremely limited since I cannot travel more than a few miles and mostly on foot. So I have been using this as an opportunity to review my archives of old images, many of which might otherwise have been permanently left behind. But I’ve also pondered how in the world to photograph this event and its effects. I’m finally starting to see some general outlines of how this might be possible. We’ll see where this leads. Stay tuned.

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

Spring Bloom, Valley and Mountains

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Spring Bloom, Valley and Mountains
Morning fog thins above a landsape of spring wildflowers stretching from valley to mountaintops.

Spring Bloom, Valley and Mountains. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog thins above a landsape of spring wildflowers stretching from valley to mountaintops.

As I continue to mine the archives of raw files from 2019 during these “shelter in place” days of 2020, here is another photograph from about this time in 2019, when I was traveling around California to enjoy and photograph a rather remarkable spring bloom. After abundant Winter and early Spring rain, the landscape was coming to life in spectacular fashion.

To make this photograph I headed out into the center of this plain — actually more of a very wide valley between two mountain ranges. Here the flowers grew in patches of similar colors — orange here, purple there, and yellow almost everywhere. The carpet of colorful wildflowers spread across the plain, up into the foothills, and extended almost to the summit if these distant mountains.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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