Tag Archives: orange

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Layers

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Aspen Layers
Layers of autumn color in shaded aspen groves

Aspen Layers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Layers of autumn color in shaded aspen groves.

Overall, the current Eastern Sierra Nevada fall color season has seemed less stunning than in the best years. The start was promising, with good high elevation color arriving on the expected schedule. But later on a number of areas that frequently offer up amazing color did not quite deliver. However, a few points are in order. Even in a less-than-astonishing year there is great color to be found if you just look around a bit. (And some of it is not in the usual iconic locations.) And a lot depends on the specific moment you arrive — the day and even the time of day.

This grove may serve as an example. We first spotted it while driving past in the early morning, when the sun had not yet arrived on this spot. We continued up the road a bit, thinking we’d turn around and photograph it a bit later. It turned out that “a bit later” produced some pretty uninspiring light on this subject… so we returned the next day and timed our visit more carefully. Photographing fall color in shaded light can produce a very different effect than photographing in full sun, with more color subtle and varied color with more shadow detail. This grove offered an additional compositional detail — the heights of both the small and large trees produced a sort of arch shape.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

In Tatters

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In Tatters
Remnants of street posters, Paris

In Tatters. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Remnants of street posters, Paris.

One thing I look for when photographing in cities is examples of street art and posters and similar that have been up long enough to have been weathered and otherwise distressed. In some cases they reveal many layers of imagery and text — some painted, some in ink, and some pasted to walls and on top of previous materials.

Beyond being in Paris I no longer recall the specific location or larger context for this splash of color. I just recall that the bright colors, abstracted from their original context by being torn to pieces, caught my attention as we walked by, and that the background white field almost reminded me of paper product wrapping. There’s just enough form to the colors that I might imagine that I could figure out what was there originally…

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 and Amazon.

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

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

Wildflowers, Hills, And Fence

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Wildflowers, Hills, And Fence
A fence runs across wildflower-covered hills in the Temblor Range

Wildflowers, Hills, And Fence. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fence runs across wildflower-covered hills in the Temblor Range.

With this photograph I am getting very close to the end of this year’s spring landscapes — but you never can tell. Overall this was a very good spring, at least for those of us in California who look forward to the late winter green and the wildflower displays that follow. Our wet season is almost entirely in the winter — California has been described as a summer desert — and we pay a lot of attention to how each winter plays out. This is especially true in the wake of a recent five-year drought. This season started slowly, and early on we were concerned that we might have another dry year. But the faucet came on full force early in 2019, and it has continued raining until very recently.

This photograph is an example of what can happen when the weather gods cooperate and the rains come. This area of California hills looks dry and brown most of the year. But in exceptionally good wet years abundant displays of wildflowers appear and may literally carpet the hills and pastures. I made this photograph in the evening, as the last light (indirect though it may have been) was producing a softer effect in these hills along the edge of the San Andreas fault.

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 and Amazon.

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

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

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Desert Globemallow

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Desert Globemallow
Desert globemallow flower and buds, Death Valley National Park

Desert Globemallow. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Desert globemallow flower and buds, Death Valley National Park.

This desert globe mallow is one of my favorite desert flowers. In most cases that I’ve encountered, there may be a few scattered bushes, sometimes filled with these intensely orange flowers for a few springtime weeks, and especially abundant after wet winters.

2019 seemed like a slightly odd spring for wildflowers in Death Valley, where I made this photograph. A lack of early winter rains lead many to expect a rather poor wildflower season. However, even though it didn’t create the famous “superbloom” conditions, there were quite a few flowers in many places. They seemed to come a bit later than expected this year — perhaps a result of the drier early winter season and then very heavy rains just before the start 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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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