Tag Archives: litter

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

Moss-Covered Trees

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Moss-Covered Trees
Moss-covered trees in a Sierra Nevada forest in Yosemite National Park.

Moss-Covered Trees. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Moss-covered trees in a Sierra Nevada forest in Yosemite National Park.

Some of my photographs are the result of long hikes into inaccessible places, hours or days spent searching out the ideal location, visits to places I’ve never been before, and other similar efforts. This is not one of those. I made this photograph on a drive to the Sierra while passing though a portion of Yosemite where most of us don’t pay a lot of attention to our surroundings, the kind of place where we are usually thinking more about where we are going than about where we are.

I think it was the green moss on the trees that caught my attention, along with the soft and shaded light. I found a pull-out along this section of roadway, grabbed camera and tripod, and wandered off into this bit of forest, where the relatively clear undergrowth opened the view through the trees.

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: Nature

Fallen Flower

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Fallen Flower
A fallen flower rests lies on a bed of old leaves and sticks.

Fallen Flower. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A fallen flower rests lies on a bed of old leaves and sticks.

Special Note: Patty and I are presenting a Silicon Valley Open Studios event on May 21 and 22. Look us up there or contact us for more information. Come and see our prints!

As I have written previously, as I photograph one subject I often am also on the lookout for other things that might make a photograph. As we fixate on our primary subject — quite important! — we risk missing other subjects lurking in the neighborhood. The old advice was “always look behind, too” — that’s a reminder look up, look down, look over, look under, look everywhere. You will probably find something interesting.

We were at a large public garden full of spectacularly beautiful spring flower displays. I mostly photographed colorful flowers, but I also poked around a bit. Some time ago I began looking underneath the plants that provide the main show, especially in gardens like this one where interesting things fall to the ground and lie unnoticed in the soft shadows. This flower had reached a poignant stage — it retained its color and shape but had been discarded in the litter beneath the bushes where it was beginning to decay.

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: Nature

Hidden Leaves

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Hidden Leaves
Leaves on the ground under the plants in a formal garden.

Hidden Leaves. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Leaves on the ground under the plants in a formal garden.

In a discussion about “what to photograph,” I once heard a photographer simply say, “There’s always SOMETHING to see!” You can always find something worthy of a photograph almost anywhere if you look closely enough and open your eyes to what is around you. Often the potential subject is not the thing that you were looking for.

That was certainly the case with this photograph. We had gone to a beautiful garden where the first signs of coming spring were evident—flowers starting to bloom and green things growing. I did photograph some of those subjects, but I was also a bit restless. I started looking around at the other things at this place, and once I did I started to see potential subjects. In one shady section of the garden there were camellias and other larger plants, and beneath these plants the ground was covered with fallen leaves, presenting an intimate landscape that looked more like autumn than the arrival of spring.

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: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Leaves, Central Valley

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Autumn Leaves, Central Valley
Autumn leaves litter the ground at a remote location in California’s Central Valley.

Autumn Leaves, Central Valley. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn leaves litter the ground at a remote location in California’s Central Valley.

Every August I begin to anticipate autumn. Yes, I know. It isn’t August until tomorrow. But bear with me. Summer is nice, but it is not my favorite season. I’ll concede that it is the time of home grown tomatoes, warm evenings, easy outdoor time, and more. But when it comes to my favorite season, it is more or less a toss-up between autumn and winter — and if pressed I think I would have to come down on the side of autumn. Even here in California, autumn brings the promise (and eventually the reality) of cooler temperatures, along with more interesting and varied weather and a color change that rivals that of spring.

This photograph comes from very late fall last year, on an early December morning when I was out in California’s Great Central Valley to photograph a rather different subject. I had arrived before dawn. It was cold and there was frost here and there. After photographing through sunrise I paused for breakfast and a cup of coffee… and looked down to see this little patch of autumn.

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.

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.