Tag Archives: log

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Branch, Water on Salt Flats

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Branch, Water on Salt Flats
Branch, Water on Salt Flats

Branch, Water on Salt Flats. Death Valley National Park, California. February 21, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A forelorn branch sits near pools of reflecting water on salt flats of Death Valley National Park.

After the brief dawn light on the Panamints ended (see the photograph I posted yesterday) and the world went gray over in that direction, I noticed this odd log or branch sitting out on the mud in the salt flats between some of the ponds that streak this section of the flats. While the two minutes of beautiful color on the Panamints had ended, the increasing light was transforming what had been a fairly solid covering of gray into a transparency that revealed interesting layers and patterns of clouds in the morning sky.

I moved a bit closer and made one final sequence of Death Valley photographs before heading back to Stovepipe Wells to take down my camp and start the long drive home. I tried a couple different compositions, including some in which I was closer to the log, but in the end I prefer this one that put some distance between it and me and, I think, suggests the huge spaces that are among of the most compelling characteristics of this landscape.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Snow Dusted Oaks, El Capitan Meadow

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Snow Dusted Oaks, El Capitan Meadow
Snow Dusted Oaks, El Capitan Meadow

Snow Dusted Oaks, El Capitan Meadow. Yosemite Valley, California. January 15, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Snow dusts winter oak trees in El Capitan Meadow, Yosemite Valley.

A thick-trunk mature black oak fringed with snow stands in front of a grove of smaller oaks in El Capitan Meadow, Yosemite Valley. The small branches in the upper part of the tree are so thick that they almost create a cloud-like effect in this light, as the low angle winter sun leaves the Valley floor in shadow. A few leaves still remain on the lower branches of the tree.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Fern and Redwood Log

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Fern and Redwood Log
Fern and Redwood Log

Fern and Redwood Log. Muir Woods National Monument, California. December 16, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fern drapes across a redwood log littered with leaves and needles at Muir Woods National Monument.

I’m always a sucker for the interesting forms of the ferns in the redwood forest, here at Muir Woods National Monument and elsewhere. This curving example was lying across the surface of an old, dead fallen redwood trunk, and was accompanied by some brown ferns, a few odd redwood needles, and what I think may be a brown bay leaf.

Although this was shot near the very end of fall, the atmosphere at Muir Woods was very much that of winter. There was just a bit of thin fog floating around here and there, and on the forest floor beneath the giant trees it was very damp and quiet and dark. (If you want evidence of the low light… note that this was a 15 second exposure!)

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Mushrooms, Redwood Log

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Winter mushrooms grow on a redwood log at Muir Woods National Monument.
Winter mushrooms grow on a redwood log at Muir Woods National Monument.

Mushrooms, Redwood Log. Muir Woods National Monument, California. December 16, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter mushrooms grow on a redwood log at Muir Woods National Monument.

Yesterday I decided to squeeze in a quick shoot in the Muir Woods area on a relatively nice day before what promises to be a week of substantial rain. So I was on the road early, stopping at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge to photograph the San Francisco Bay at sunrise before continuing on to Muir Woods. I arrived pretty early – I know I’m there early when I get the very first parking space closest to the entrance!

This is a beautiful time of year in the redwood forest, but there seems to be a smaller number of visitors. I suppose the wetness may keep them away – there is mud and water everywhere – and not everyone is willing to deal with the cold. The main grove at Muir Woods sits in the bottom of a canyon that doesn’t get a whole lot of sun this time of year, especially very early and late in the day. Combine wet with cold and low light… and you can understand why it was a fairly quiet morning there, with only a few other people wandering about.

I know that winter is the mushroom season in places like this, but I was very surprised by the number of mushrooms growing there yesterday and my the astonishing variety of types. There were the large curving brown ones (sorry, I’m not a mushroom ID expert, to say the least!) clustered in the upper area of this shot, the brightly colored yellow ones, tiny white ones, and many other shapes and colors and textures. I wish that I could have stayed longer to photograph more of them, but I think I’ll try to return after the current cycle of storms ends.

I’ll add a couple of photographic observations here, too. First, this is another shot that demonstrates, I think, the usefulness of the 70-200mm zoom lens. Working here at close to minimum focus distance, the longer focal length gave me a bit of working room and still provided a nice background blur. Second, the redwood forest is a very dark place! I don’t know how you could shoot these subjects handheld – this shot used a 6 second exposure!

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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