Tag Archives: park

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

Dense Forest, Clearing Fog

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Dense Forest, Clearing Fog
Dense Forest, Clearing Fog

Dense Forest, Clearing Fog. Yosemite Valley, California. March 2. 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The last traces of morning fog drift among forest trees of Yosemite Valley

Back at the beginning of March we were in Yosemite Valley to attend the opening reception of the Yosemite Renaissance XXIX exhibit at the Visitor Center Gallery. (This juried show includes work in a variety of media—including photography—and continues on until May 11.) We decided to take advantage of this visit to spend three days in the Valley and do some photography.

At this time of year the fog that often collects in the Valley’s meadows can provide all sorts of interesting photographic possibilities. With that possibility in mind we went out early in the morning to look around. At first it did not look too promising. The weather was relatively warm and the air seemed quite clear. On a hunch I thought we’d go look at Stoneman Meadow, and we found that it was filled with a shallow layer of fog. (I later heard that it may have been the only foggy location on this day.) The fog moved across the meadow and seemed to be thinning, but they surprised me by becoming a lot thicker and obscuring the views of the surrounding trees. This fog gradually drifted into the nearby forest as it dissipated, and this photograph includes the very last misty remnants of this fog.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Winter Trees, Statue, Central Park

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Winter Trees, Statue, Central Park
Winter Trees, Statue, Central Park

Winter Trees, Statue, Central Park. New York City. December 28, 2013. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Barren winter trees and statue in Central Park, New York City

At the end of 2013 we spent a week in New York City, devoting our time to a combination of family visits and exploring the city and surroundings. We staying in Manhattan and did a lot of walking and subway riding there, but we also got up to the north as far as The Cloisters museum and also spent quite a bit of time in Brooklyn.

We managed to miss the worst of the tough winter weather in New York. We had some rain on one day, and there was the tiniest flurry of snow on another near the end of the trip. For Californians from the San Francisco Bay Area, it seemed cold, but not nearly like it would be starting a few days after we left, when cold conditions and very heavy snow arrived. All of this was great for us since we wanted to walk and photograph a lot. On one day we decided to wander around in Central Park. It was a beautiful winter day, with mostly blue skies and clear air. The park was crowded with plenty of other people who were taking advantage of the opportunity to get out. As we wandered around I carried my small rangefinder-style camera and mostly shot quickly and spontaneously, focusing on whatever happened to catch my attention—a group of trees, tall building surrounding the park, people, and so on. Here I tried to fill the frame with the stark, twisted forms of these barren winter trees against the clear sky… with a small surprise in the lower left corner.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Redwood Branches, Morning

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Redwood Branches, Morning
Redwood Branches, Morning

Redwood Branches, Morning. Muir Woods National Monument, California. March 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Coast redwood branches in morning light, Muir Woods National Monument

In the middle of March it seemed like a typical California end-of-winter day… sunny, warm, and wildflowers beginning to bloom. (Those of you in colder climates perhaps are envious, but some of us here miss winter and feel a slight be of regret when the warm season begins to arrive. ) We ended up at Muir Woods very early in the morning—so early that the official entry kiosk was not yet open and that we got a parking space in the first parking lot! We wandered into the park and walked up through the redwood forest that borders the creek that runs down the valley through which the main, popular trails run. A few hours later, when tour buses arrive from San Francisco, this place would become noisy and crowded, but at this early morning hour it was still quiet.

We moved on toward a trail where trillium flowers are easy to find, a trail that parallels the creek some distance up the side slope. Although my attention was mostly on the ground on the uphill side of the trail, where the trillium were blooming, I also kept an eye on the valley on the downslope side. From this vantage point it is possible to get a rare straight-on view of the trunks of the redwoods, and occasionally the morning sun would make it all the way down into this valley and back-light redwood and other trees. Here I was taken by the three primary layers in this little scene. The foreground redwood branch are curved and bright green in the morning sun. Beyond are moss-covered branches that almost glow in the back-light. And beyond all of this are the dark and shadowed forest trees on the far side of the canyon, not yet in the sunlight.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Purple Trillium Flower

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Purple Trillium Flower
Purple Trillium Flower

Purple Trillium Flower. Muir Woods National Monument, California. March 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Purple trillium flower beneath the canopy of the redwood forest, Muir Woods National Monument

The annual blossoming of the trillium flowers at Muir Woods is always a reminder that spring is just around the corner. These flowers bloom in the first half of March, in wild abundance in non-drought years. The number of flowers seemed smaller this year, most likely due to the historic sequence of three very dry years in California, with the current season being perhaps one of the driest on record. Fortunately, after several months of virtually no rain at all, the tap was turned back on briefly in the past month and there is now at least some moisture in this redwood forest environment.

After photographing here for some years, I have a pretty good idea of when and where to look for these flowers. Although it took me a bit of time to get there, as I was distracted along the way by other subjects, I eventually headed straight to a familiar trail that traverses a hillside above a creek. Here there are many trillium plants, and in the morning theory are still in the soft light that is most conducive to photographing them. Since there are usually quite a few of the flowers, I tend to almost think less about the individual flowers and more about their placement against the background of other forest elements and about what sort of light they have. Here I found a flower that was in a position such that I could shoot down onto it, placing leaves behind the blossom, and which provided a darker background without a lot of distracting detail.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.