Tag Archives: landscape

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fire Trail, Calero Hills

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Fire Trail, Calero Hills
“Fire Trail, Calero Hills” — A trail through Central California oak grassland with winter morning light.

This is an unusual post — a “make up” post to restore a lost photograph to the archives. It is an old photograph from 2006 that probably once appeared on this website but seems to have disappeared. I regularly share older “From the Archive” images on social media, and as I prepared this photo for sharing I was unable to find an original post here. Consequently, I worked up this slightly revised version and am sharing it here today.

The photograph comes from a San Francisco Bay Area park where I have hiked and photographed for decades. I visit at all times of the year and in all imaginable conditions. This one comes from a morning hike in the winter, when the low angle sun cast strong shadows across the landscape beneath the skeletal forms of winter trees.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Islands, Fog

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Islands, Fog
“Islands, Fog” — Two small reed-covered wetlands islands in thick winter tule fog.

At times I like to make photographs that contain as little detail as possible, photographs that might suggest more than they tell. The most distinct feature in this scene is the darker island at the left. Beyond that we see (barely) one more island and then nothing. Any further detail is masked by the thick Central Valley tule fog.

It was a remarkably foggy day. I drove over there from my home about two hours away, and the last half hour or so of the drive was in fog so thick I could barely see the roadway. I had initially hoped that I might get a bit of sunrise color and then a late-morning clearing, but neither happened. If anything, the fog got thicker after noon!

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cathedral Range

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Cathedral Range
“Cathedral Range” — The distant Cathedral Range rises above Yosemite high country forests and meadows under evening clouds.

This was the scene late in the day during my early July visit to the High Sierra near Tuolumne Meadows and just east of Yosemite National Park. In the right light, this can be my favorite time of day — the sun Is nearing the horizon and the light is softening and turning golden, and shadows stretch across the landscape. I made the photograph next to a high country meadow that opens to a view of the distant Cathedral Range.

The Cathedral Range has a unique personality. It is not on the Sierra Crest, but instead runs more or less northwest to southeast between the the Tuolumne and Merced Rivers. It rises from mostly forested country to culminate in open granite terrain, with some summits that escaped glaciation and are rugged and steep.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Levee Road, Tule Fog

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Levee Road, Tule Fog
“Levee Road, Tule Fog” — Tule fog shrouds the winter landscape along a California Central Valley levee road.

A couple of weeks ago I made my way out to California’s Central Valley for what I hoped would be a day of bird photography augmented by landscape work. My favorite days at this time of year begin with tule fog that clears before noon. There is wonderful transitional light as the conditions change, and once the fog lifts there are usually opportunities for bird photography. Well, I got the fog I came for… and it never left! (The birds? Not so much.)

This spot along a levee road skirting wetland ponds is very familiar to me. I photograph here all the time, and I’ve photographed literally this same scene often — at dawn, in fog, late in the day, after dusk. It includes several elements I associate with this place: skeletal winter trees, new growth after winter rains, and the landscape fading into the distance under the fog.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.