Tag Archives: lichen

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Succulent Plant Growing on Rock

April 30, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Black and white photograph of a single succulent plant growing on an almost barren rock face at Castle Rock State Park, California.

I wish I had a better title for this photograph, but I’m afraid that I am not expert at plant identification. (Yes, I’m hoping that someone who knows about these things will offer an identification – I’ll change the title to reflect this. Thanks in advance!)

(Update: “Thank you!” to Gena and Guy who suggest that it is a type of stonecrop. That makes sense to me.)

On this warm spring-like morning I hiked at Castle Rock State Park along the summit ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains – this was my first hike of the season on which it actually felt like spring rather than winter. (It has been a wet winter here in the San Francisco Bay Area.) As I passed over a rocky section of the trail to Goat Rock I paused to think about photographing some ferns and wildflowers that were growing against the base of a small rock face. I didn’t find anything along those lines worth photographing, but I did spot this single specimen of some sort of small succulent plant growing out of seemingly nothing in the middle of the rock face. The plant’s location was so improbable that I stopped and looked around for another of the same type, but this seemed to be the only one.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 105mm
ISO 100, f/16, 2 seconds

keywords: black and white, monochrome, single, succulent, plant, leaf, pointed, spring, season, cliff, wall, moss, lichen, trail, hike, castle rock, state, park, california, usa, north america, nature, flora, vegetation, barren, face, stock

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Three Aspen Trunks, Lichen Covered Rocks

November 8, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Three small aspen trees with fall color leaves among small plants grow from a crack in lichen-covered rocks – Sierra Nevada, California near South Lake.

Yet another variation on the “bare aspen trunks with some leaves, photographed against granite” theme – I can’t help myself! :-)

This is another of several photographs I made along the road below Parcher’s Resort on the way to South Lake in the eastern Sierra above Bishop, California. At this early October point in the season there are almost endless ways to approach photography of aspens – still-green aspens, aspens barely starting to change color, newly colorful aspens among still-green aspens, aspens at the height of their yellow/orange/red color, aspens past peak starting to thin a bit, aspens with only a few beautiful leaves remaining (and the rest littering the ground beneath), aspen trunks bare of any leaves and waiting for the winter to arrive – and all of these shot in an infinite variety of light, in an infinite variety of settings, with an infinite variety of compositions.

So I hope no one minds if I continue to post a few more. :-)

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: three, small, aspen, tree, trunk, leaf, leaves, yellow, green, gold, fall, autumn, season, plant, brush, crack, lichen, gray, green, shrub, twig, branch, boulder, cliff, face, south, lake, parchers, resort, road, bishop, creek, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, california, usa, nature, scenic, travel, landscape, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Bare Aspen Trunks and Boulders

November 7, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Granite boulders stand behind a row of nearly bare fall aspen trees near South Lake, Sierra Nevada, California.

This is one more photograph from my early October aspen-chasing expeditions to the eastern Sierra. On this trip I ended up in the Bishop Creek area and on this cold, slightly snowy, early fall day I ended up at one point along a section of roadway just below Parcher’s Resort near South Lake. Below Parcher’s there is a meadow – I parked there and spend some time wandering up the roadway past this area of steep, jumbled rocks and aspen trees and other foliage.

A note about the light in this photograph: I had passed by this area before – on previous visits and earlier during this trip – and thought about how I’d like to photograph here in diffused, shaded conditions. So I made a plan to return much later in the afternoon when I knew that the sun would move around behind the ridge about this spot and leave it in shade, but with some light coming in from the open sky and ridge on the other side of the valley – pretty much exactly the sort of conditions I look for when I photograph this type of subject.

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: row, aspen, bare, tree, trunk, season, fall, autumn, white, branch, leaf, leaves, vertical, yellow, gold, rock, boulder, cliff, lichen, texture, parchers, resort, south, lake, bishop, creek, road, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, california, usa, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, stock

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.