Tag Archives: macro

Photographs: Nature

Yellow and White Flower

Image Leave a comment
Yellow and White Flower
Close-up photograph of the center of a yellow and white flower.

Yellow and White Flower. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Close-up photograph of the center of a yellow and white flower.

Once again, I shift from the world of the very large to the world of the very small. This is a photograph of the center of a rose (as Patty reminded me) in a San Francisco Peninsula public garden that we visited in late May. I don’t always find this subject easy to photograph, but by getting very close and muting the brighten light with a shade I think I managed to reveal some of the subtle color of the petals.

I used to think that I mostly worked almost exclusively in landscape photographer mode. Then, perhaps a couple of decades ago, I started to get serious about certain kinds of wildlife. Later I became fascinated by street photography, of all things. I’ve always photographed an occasional flower, often on backpacking trips, but it was more of an afterthought than a priority. But in the last few years I finally gave in, got the macro lens, and when we visit locations like this one I’m often content to use only that lens.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Globe Lily and Ithuriel’s Spear

Image Leave a comment
Globe Lily and Blue Dicks
Juxtaposed flowers of Ithuriel’s spear and globe lily plants.

Globe Lily and Ithuriel’s Spear. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Juxtaposed flowers of Ithuriel’s spear and globe lily plants.

There’s a small valley in a local park that I have hike though for decades. Every spring I make a point of going there early in the morning when the light is still soft and looking for the wildflowers that grow there — Larkspur, globe lilies, and Ithuriel’s spear for the most part. There are specific bends in the trail where I know to look each season for the emerging flowers. (In fact there is exactly one spot where I know I can find the deep purple Larkspur flowers.)

On this visit I got lucky and found two of these favorites growling so close together — intertwined, really — that they made a sort of accidental bouquet. To my eye, the subtle colors of the globe lily (white with faint suggestions of pink, greens and yellow) complement the more intense blue/purple of the blue dicks flowers.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Globe Lilies

Image Leave a comment
Globe Lilies
A cluster of spring globe lilies in the San Francisco Bay Area hills.

Globe Lilies. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A cluster of spring globe lilies in the San Francisco Bay Area hills.

Every spring I make a point of visiting these flowers in a little valley in the hills not far from where I live. I thought I might miss them this year, but the heavy winter rainfall delayed the bloom and made it more extensive than usual. The first time I visited I thought the flowers were good. When I went back a few weeks later I expected them to be gone — but instead there were even more of them, more than I remember ever seeing here before.

They can be a little tricky to photograph. Because the plant isn’t too tall and because the flowers hang down at the end of spindly branches, it can be tricky to get a good camera angle on them. They also tend to grow in sheltered places that are at least partially shaded, so the light can be low. On the other hand, when there are as many as I saw this year, if I just stick with it I’m bound to find a few photogenic flowers!

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Structures and Objects

Switch Box

Image Leave a comment
Switch Box
An old, weathered outdoor switch box on a brick wall.

Switch Box. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

An old, weathered outdoor switch box on a brick wall.

Ever since I can remember I have photographed odd bits of “stuff” like this — old fences, door handles and hinges, electrical boxes, anything that has the worn patina of age, rust, and weathering. The first time I recall doing this must have been in middle school or early high school — I went around the back side of my parents’ house and found an old wooden fence with a chain lock, photographed it, and made black and white prints.

On the day I made this photograph we were at a very large garden, with the plan being to photograph spring flowers and foliage. We certainly did that, but I’m easily distracted by things like this, and I came back with this photograph along with others of old signs, door knobs, windows, and similar non-garden stuff.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.