Tag Archives: leaf

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

Winter Ferns and Log

February 20, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Dormant winter ferns against a decaying log, Yosemite Valley, California.

The story behind finding this little bit of landscape is perhaps best not fully told – but I’ll share little background. I had driven west along Northside Drive in Yosemite Valley in the morning looking for bits of interesting light that can crop up even in the middle of the day during winter in that deep canyon. I had just made some photographs of the Cathedral Rocks area and decided it was time to move on. As I wandered back to the car I decided to, uh, “take a short walk into the woods” on the other side of the road. While there I noticed that some interesting dry ferns were peeking up from under the melting snow, so I decide to look around a bit more in this rather nondescript bit of forest. I finally found one little cluster of ferns that were arranged against the backdrop of an old decaying log and decided to make a few photographs of it before heading back to the car and moving on.

I like several things about this photograph, but among them is the fact that it isn’t an obvious “Yosemite photo” at all. In fact, you could find a similar sort of subject in any number of places if you just look carefully enough – which in Yosemite often means looking away from those iconic and quite obvious subjects from time to time.

(And, yes, it was intentional that I posted this photographic “homage” on February 20, the birthday of Ansel Adams. :-)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: yosemite, national, park, valley, california, usa, north america, nature, winter, fern, plant, foliage, leaf, branch, log, wood, decay, texture, black and white, monochrome, forest, stock, curve, pattern

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

Redwood Creek, Muir Woods

January 5, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Water cascades over moss covered rocks along Redwood Creek at Muir Woods National Monument.

I made this photograph on a low-light end-of-autumn day at Muir Woods where the first bridge on the main trail loop crosses over Redwood Creek. It was no problem getting a long enough exposure in this low light – in fact, the main technical issue here involved waiting for a break in the tourist hiker traffic across the bridge, since the bridge is small and tends to bounce!

I love Muir Woods during the dark and damp season of late fall and early winter. The direct sunlight does not often make it down into the bottom of this cold canyon at this time of year. The light is almost always soft and diffused and when everything is a bit wet – e.g. most of the time – the colors becomes intense and saturated.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: california, usa, travel, scenic, san francisco, bay, area, golden, gate, national, recreation, area, park, stock, fall, season, autumn, water, cascade, redwood, creek, leaves, leaf, stick, moss, flow, motion, soft, muir, woods, monument, bridge, 1, rock, nature, landscape, forest, grove

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen, Rock, and Lichen

December 1, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autum aspen colors against a background of lichen-covered rocks near South Lake, Sierra Nevada, California.

This splash of color comes from a roadside aspen in full fall glory, found along the roadway to South Lake not far from Parcher’s Resort in the eastern Sierra Nevada range above Bishop California. I was attracted not only to the colorful fall leaves of the tree, but also to the background of shaded granite and the greenish lichen that covers the rocks.

This photograph is from my early October visit to the eastern Sierra Nevada to hunt aspen color. This was one of those trips on which the weather was beautifully awful. This day started with very high winds and cold temperatures, and throughout the day I encountered overcast and scattered snow flurries.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: aspen, tree, trunk, root, branch, twig, leaves, leaf, granite, rock, boulder, lichen, green, yellow, gold, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, eastern, south, lake, landscape, nature, travel, scenic, season, fall, autumn, color, california, usa, stock

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

Autumn Oak Trees, Cliff Face – Yosemite Valley

November 28, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn oak trees and meadow with background cliff face towering above – Yosemite Valley, California.

Having posted all of the better photos from last week’s shoot at Point Lobos, I’m back to the fall photographs from Yosemite Valley once again as I complete the process of going through all of the images I brought back from my October 31 and November 1 visit. This is another in the “tree with hazy cliffs in the background” series that I seem to have spent a lot of time on during this visit. These trees were photographed during the bright midday hours, at a time when I might usually knock off from photography for awhile. However, with the right backlight on the colorful black oaks and a background of hazily distance valley walls, I continued to shoot almost straight through on this day.

This photograph is 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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