Tag Archives: park

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dogwood Blossoms and Branch

May 25, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Spring dogwood tree blossoms and leaves in Yosemite Valley.

Yes, another dogwood… but, hey, it is spring and the dogwoods are (or were) blooming! These were photographed in Yosemite Valley in early May of this year on an intense one-day photography trip to The Valley. I shot this one during more or less the midday hours, rather than during the more typical early/late light. However, this has its advantages, too, if one can find good shade with open illumination. The color balance at this time of day seems to go more toward balanced white and the broken and filtered light on the ground makes an interesting background.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

keywords: california, sierra nevada, travel, Yosemite, valley, usa, national, park, mountains, dogwood, tree, branch, twig, leaf, flower, bloom, blossom, bracht, petals, shade, spring, season, bokeh, blur, sun, dappled, nature, plant, tree, foliage, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Dusk, 2nd and King Streets, San Francisco

May 22, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Street scene at 2nd and King Streets with elements of the San Francisco skyline and Bay and the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge – photographed from AT&T Park.

Switching gears away from the natural landscapes I’ve been posting recently, here is an urban landscape. I was at a Giants-Mets game at AT&T Park in San Francisco (I’d rather not discuss the score, OK? ;-) on a beautiful mid-May Friday evening with my wife. While I do like the baseball (especially on those occasions when the Giants actually play well…) I also like all of the other stuff that makes the ballpark experience what it is: the view of San Francisco Bay (especially as the sun sets), ballpark food (but why oh why did they take away my lemon chicken sausages!?) and wandering around looking at the ball park and the crowd. I also like the great views from around the upper deck of the park.

About 15 minutes before sunset I told my (very understanding) wife that I was going to wander off for a while and do some photography as the last light fell on the City and the bay. There are really wonderful views toward downtown (especially if the fog is just starting to come in – which didn’t happen on this evening) and out toward the SF Oakland Bay Bridge and the rest of the bay. This photograph overlooks the intersection of 2nd and King Streets and, beyond, the Bay Bridge and Yerba Buena and Treasure Islands.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: san francisco, frisco, california, the city, usa, 2nd, king, street, downtown, muni, train, rail, light, paragon, restaurant, crosswalk, car, truck, dusk, sunset, evening, oakland, bridge, yerba buena, treasure, island, person, tree, building, structure, urban, tower, skyscraper, giants, stadium, park, at&t, baseball, upper, deck, walkway, sky, travel, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dogwood Blossoms and Leaves

May 20, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Spring dogwood tree blossoms and new leaves, Yosemite Valley.

I found this pair of dogwood blossoms and the accompanying diagonal arrangement of new leaves when I left the crowded “Mirror Lake Trail” (which is, in reality, a road…) and instead walked the parallel and much more attractive footpath through the forest. It can be hard to get a full view of the dogwood flowers from above since the great majority of the flowers grow above eye level. Here I found a large boulder parked next to a tree, and while the leaves were a good distance up in the tree, by climbing onto the boulder and setting my tripod up on top I was able to find a good high position to photograph them.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: california, sierra nevada, travel, Yosemite, valley, national, park, usa, dogwood, tree, leaf, bloom, blossom, bracht, petal, white, leaf, leaves, branch, dark, forest, bokeh, sun, light, nature, scenic, mirror lake, trail, sun, sierra, nevada, mountians, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Spring Lupine Blossoms, Point Lobos

May 14, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Spring lupine flowers blossom at punta de los lobos marinos, Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

The weather was quite foggy at Point Lobos when I photographed these blooming lupine plants along the bluffs near the punta de los lobos marinos in late April. This is actually very interesting light for wildflower photography because diffused light decreases the harsh highlights and brings out a bit more detail in the shadows, even though color balance can be a bit tricky. There were several big clusters of tall lupine plants along this bluff, and I picked one and spent some time photographing it. While sometimes the problem can be finding enough good flowers to get a shot, here the problem more or less the opposite – the flowers were so thick that it was hard to compose a shot that let the foreground flowers stand out a bit from the background!

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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