Tag Archives: park

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

Forest, Tarn, and Granite

July 8, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Sierra forest and granite reflected in the surface of a small tarn, Yosemite National Park.

Having visited the Sierra and the Yosemite high country for more than a few decades, I have become attached to a number of small and unlikely little places that have personal meaning to me. This is one of those odd little spots. At a point along Tioga Pass Road there is a small unmarked turnout like many other such turnouts along this route. One time a few years ago I stopped here for reasons that I can no longer recall. I got out of the car and noticed a very faint path leading away from the road – so, of course, I took it! It led though tightly spaced trees and towards a small canyon, passing several small ponds along the way. I also recall mosquitos. Lots of mosquitos.

Since that time I have returned to this spot quite a few times – in snow on the day that the road first opens, on sunny summer days like this one, and on damp and foggy evenings in late fall not long before the highway closes for the season. Where is the spot, exactly? All I’ll say is that it is in Yosemite and that you can get to it by walking away from Tioga Pass Road. Frankly, I don’t think the specific location really matters to anyone but me and perhaps a few others who might stop here, too. There are thousands of such little spots throughout the Sierra, and it is your discovery of your own personal places among them that can make them special.

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: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Iris Blossom, Japanese Garden

July 6, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A new iris blossom emerges against a background of summer greenery.

I was in Portland, Oregon during the past week on a family visit. I’ve been to and through Portland before, but this was the first time I have been able to stay there for a substantial amount of time. Although this was not primarily a photographic trip – I didn’t even carry a tripod! – I did keep a camera with me, and I had some opportunities to do some informal photography while getting to know the place. I also had a chance to find out just how much of a garden city Portland is. During five days in the city I think we visited at least that many gardens, ranging from formal rose gardens (for which the city is famous), small and informal gardens, several Japanese and Chinese gardens, gardens around homes and historic buildings, and more.

I made this photograph of what I’m pretty certain is an iris (I’m actually very bad at plant identification…) while walking around one such garden. Shooting in shade on an overcast afternoon, the light was close to the limit of what I would want to try to shoot handheld, but I crouched down low and I think I managed to make it work. I like the slightly curving shape of the stem, with its partially unwrapped sections, and the flower itself illuminated by soft light from the sky.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Tree, Fractured Sandstone Wall

June 29, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A lone tree stands against the fractured textures of a sandstone cliff, Zion National Park, Utah.

Time for one more Zion photograph. Actually, it may not be quite the last from this April visit to that park and other beautiful areas of Utah. It almost doesn’t matter exactly where this photograph was made, since red rock and green trees can be found all over the area. Basically we were driving along a park road in the afternoon, with eyes wide open and looking about for photographic subjects, when we stopped alongside a section of the cliff that was still mostly in the shade, and in front of which beautiful trees were growing.

I liked the conjunction of the hard, reddish rock with its vertical cracks and horizontal patterns… with a single living thing, the very green tree growing up against the cliff face in the shade. Sometimes the colors of the rock can seem almost unreal. I feel a bit that way now when I look at the intense red-yellow colors in the upper right corner of the frame.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Sandstone, Cliff-Dwelling Plants

June 21, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A few plants grow in cracks in the face of a sandstone cliff, Zion National Park, Utah.

This is most certainly not an “icon” photograph of Zion! It is essentially a nondescript little bit of high country sandstone with a few plants, photographed along the Mount Carmel highway through the park in a spot where a shadowed cliff face was washed with light reflected from another rocky face behind me and on the opposite side of a narrow section of the canyon. This softer and more diffused light filled the shadowed areas yet was warmer in color than the very early- and late-day light that can also be as soft.

I’m used to seeing these examples of desert plants that seem barely alive, consisting largely of tough and dry branches and often not having much green at all. I see such things a lot, for example, when I photograph in Death Valley or in some of the high desert areas east of the Sierra. What was new to me here was the juxtaposition of these dry country plants with the rich, warm tones of the southwest sandstone.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: park

Forest, Tarn, and Granite

Iris Blossom, Japanese Garden

Tree, Fractured Sandstone Wall

Sandstone, Cliff-Dwelling Plants

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.