Tag Archives: national monument

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Spring Squall and Wildflowers

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Spring Squall and Wildflowers
A squall moves across the distant landscape beyond a plain filled with spring wildflowers.

Spring Squall and Wildflowers. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A squall moves across the distant landscape beyond a plain filled with spring wildflowers.

Almost everything about this photograph is transitory, with the arguable exception of the distant hills and mountains. This is an extremely dry place for most of the year, but following wet winters it erupts into a remarkable show of wildflowers for a few weeks around the beginning of April. The rain and light in the photograph are more transitory than the flowers. It was a windy, post-storm day, with cloudbursts and cloud shadows racing across the landscape.

There’s always a bit of luck involved in landscape photography. We may like to imagine that we can control all of the elements that make a photograph of such subject, but our skill and knowledge merely improve the odds. In the end, we work with what we find. Another stroke of luck in this photograph: the passing cloudburst was in the direction of the afternoon sun, so it was lit from behind.

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, Photographs: People In Landscape, Photographs: Photographers, Photographs: Southern California

Photographing Spring Wildflowers

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Photographing Spring Wildflowers
Photographer Patricia Emerson Mitchell photographing the spring wildflowers at Carrizo Plain National Monument.

Photographing Spring Wildflowers. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Photographer Patricia Emerson Mitchell photographing spring wildflowers at Carrizo Plain National Monument.

Although our decision to visit the Carrizo Plain came at the last minute and took us on a route that was affected by road closures, when we finally arrived it was well worth the effort. It was one of those prototypical early-spring days in California — a weather front had passed through, it was windy, cloudbursts and cloud shadows moved across the landscape, wildflowers were in bloom, and at times there was sun.

Of the two of us, Patty is the more accomplished flower photographer. I dabble in this subject from time to time — and enjoy it! — but it is her primary subject. We took a gravel side road to get out into this valley that was carpeted with wildflowers leading off into the distance.

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, Photographs: Southern California

Shadows on the Plain

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Shadows on the Plain
Cloud shadows move across Carrizo Plain and the hills of the Temblor Range.

Shadows on the Plain. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Cloud shadows move across Carrizo Plain and the hills of the Temblor Range.

This year we only had a few hours to visit the Carrizo Plain, where wildflowers emerge for a few weeks in astonishing abundance during wet springs. We extended our Death Valley trip by a day so that we could loop though the National Monument on the way home. Road conditions delayed our arrival a bit, and rain showers were passing through when we got there, but as it cleared we could see extensive fields of flowers extending across the valley and rising into the hills.

There’s a special significance to the hills in this photograph. This is the escarpment of the great San Andreas fault, which runs thought this part of the state like a giant scar. The terrain is rough and displaced by the lateral movement of eons of earthquakes… and softened here by a garland of yellow 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.

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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: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Spring Wildflowers and Rain

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Spring Wildflowers and Rain
A carpet of spring wildflowers extends across a broad Californai valley as rain falls from passing clouds.

Spring Wildflowers and Rain. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A carpet of spring wildflowers extends across a broad California valley as rain falls from passing clouds.

While visiting Death Valley near the end of March we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to modify our return to the Bay Area by adding an extra travel day and visiting Carrizo Plain National Monument. In wet years this typically dry place erupts in spring color as wildflowers carpet the valley and surrounding mountains — and this being a very wet year a visit seemed appropriate. We made it to the Carrizo, though the full story of weather and detours will have to wait for a later post.

California’s exceptional 2022-23 weather was on view during our visit. It was supposed to be sunny and dry, but we passed through some pretty heavy downpours — and one of those showers is visible in the distance in this photograph. Here a carpet of wildflowers extends across the broad valley toward distant hills.

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.

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