Tag Archives: nature

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Three Purple Wildflowers

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Three Purple Wildflowers

Three Purple Wildflowers. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The wildflower season in the central California coastal hills peaks in early April, so I make an effort to get out to some of the nearby wildflower areas every spring.

(Notes: I’m taking a short break from the Death Valley photos to add a bit of contrast and show a few spring 2008 wildflower photos. I have actually have over a month of upcoming photographs in the queue right now – more Death Valley photos, some Yosemite photos, and much more. Also, as you may have figured out from my generic flower photo titles – “purple wildflowers” – I’m not great and naming plants and flowers. Fortunately an acquaintance recently sent me a list of the names of all of the flowers I’ve recently photographed. When I update the titles I’ll credit this helpful person!)

keywords: purple, flowers, three, wildflowers, wild, nature, stems, green, leaves, california, usa, san jose, santa clara, county, san francisco, bay area, hills, trail, hike, hiking, almaden, quicksilver, park, stock

Photographs: Death Valley

Stovepipe Dunes and Funeral Mountains

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Stovepipe Dunes and Funeral Mountains

Stovepipe Dunes and Funeral Mountains. Death Valley National Park, California. April 4, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning on the Stovepipe Dunes with the Funeral Range in the distance. Death Valley National Park.

This is probably a more “typical” Death Valley Dunes (a.k.a. “Stovepipe Dunes”) photograph, though I got here by a slightly different route than others might follow. The dunes are easily visible from the roadway east of Stovepipe Wells. Many people drive to a spot next to the dunes and start walking straight towards the highest point. Having “been there, done that” before, I now know that this is a long slog through deep sand – so this time I started my walk much closer to Stovepipe Wells and went around the west end of the dunes to get to the back side of the formation. I entered the dunes from the north to get this shot, and I have to say that access was a lot easier this way.

keywords: morning, stovepipe, dunes, wells, funeral, mountains, ridge, sand, desert, peak, ridge, plants, flowers, ripples, shadows, california, usa, scenic, landscape, nature, stock, flowers, roots

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Spring Oak Leaves

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Spring Oak Leaves
Spring Oak Leaves. Calero Hills, California. March 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Some people might say I shouldn’t admit it, but there was an element of serendipity – actually, I made a mistake – in this photograph. (Some who imagine that all photographs should coalesce in the photographer’s mind in their final form before the shutter is clicked won’t want to hear about this.) I was working with a long lens and wide aperture to narrow the depth of field. My plan was to shoot the colorful foliage in the foreground and throw everything beyond out of focus. I set up, let the camera autofocus… and it focused on the “wrong” branches – the branches that are in focus in this shot. “Wait a minute,” I thought, “I kind of like the way that looks!” Instead of an in-focus foreground with everything else OOF, the middle ground is in focus and objects closer and farther away are OOF. It ended up being my favorite version of this scene; I like it more than the shot I was planning on.

keywords: spring, oak, tree, branches, leaves, bright, colorful, yellow, green, calero, santa clara, county, park, california, usa, nature, stock, landscape, morning

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Trees in Mist, Motherlode Near Drytown

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Trees in Mist, Motherlode Near Drytown
Trees in Mist, Motherlode Near Drytown. Sierra Nevada Gold Country, California. March 29, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees in the mist on a wet spring morning in the Motherlode near Drytown, California. This was photographed on a drive up some very lonely and narrow back roads above Highway 49 in Amador County. I only exposed four frames in this challenging weather, but since two of the four turned out to be interesting I’ll console myself with a 50% success rate. :-)

keywords: California, Cloud, Foothills, gold country, Grass, Landscape, Meadow, Morning, Mountain, rain, Rock, Sierra Nevada, Spring, Travel, Tree, mist, fog, drytown, motherlode, gold country, highway 49, usa, scenic, travel, nature, stock, silhouette, green