Tag Archives: plain

Photographs: Nature

Spring Flowers, Mountains, And Clearing Fog

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Spring Flowers, Mountains, And Clearing Fog
Morning fog dissipates above wildflower-covered California hills.

Spring Flowers, Mountains, And Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog dissipates above wildflower-covered California hills.

This photograph is a bit unusual in that it is a second version of a photograph I posted recently. By that I do not mean a similar photograph made at about the same time — I mean the very same exposure interpreted in two different ways. The primary difference is the presentation in a 2:1 aspect ratio panoramic landscape orientation which, I think, emphasizes the horizontal scale of the landscape and perhaps brings a bit more attention to the dissipating fog.

I made the photograph on a spring morning in 2019 during a visit to an inland California valley where wildflowers may erupt for a few weeks in wet years, transforming a scene that is usually dry and brown into one of lush greens and the vibrant colors of carpets of wildflowers. The morning began with thick tule fog, and I made the photograph just as the last bits of the fog were dissipating.

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: Nature

Tumbleweed Among The Wildflowers

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Tumbleweed Among The Wildflowers
An old tumbleweed settles in among a field of spring wildflowers in the Temblor Mountains.

Tumbleweed Among The Wildflowers. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old tumbleweed settles in among a field of spring wildflowers in the Temblor Mountains.

One evening I ventured into the foothills of the Temblor Mountains, the range that traces the scar of the San Andreas earthquake fault through a portion of California. There are few places — perhaps no others at all — where the scale of this fault is visible. The range runs in an almost perfectly straight line, separated from the plain to the west, where valleys and streams are clearly offset by the north/south slippage along the fault.

I went there to photograph the intense Spring wildflower bloom that was underway that year. Over a period of a few weeks, hills and valleys that are brown and dry during the rest of the year erupted with new green growth and carpets of wildflowers. During this brief interval, unlike the rest of the year, the dry tumbleweed plant seemed like an interloper.

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.

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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: People In Landscape, Photographs: Travel

Spring On The Plain

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Spring On The Plain
A lone horseback rider heads onto a California plain filled with spring wildflowers and backed by distant snow topped peaks.

Spring On The Plain. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A lone horseback rider heads onto a California plain filled with spring wildflowers and backed by distant snow topped peaks.

Continuing today with the bittersweet 2020 theme that is a combination of “wish I could be here” and “at least I can take a virtual trip,” here is a photograph from Spring back in 2019, when I was out and about and making photographs in several beautiful areas of California. (In truth, my current situation is much better than that of many other people — I don’t have that much to complain about — so let’s focus on the positive here!)

I had spent part of a couple of days exploring and photographing this area as I passed through on my way to a California desert location. Most of the time was spent making pure nature photographs, but I couldn’t resist taking advantage of a serendipitous moment when a group of horseback riders wandered into the foreground of this grand vista of flower-covered plain and distant snow-capped mountains.

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.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wildflowers and Fog

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Wildflowers and Fog
California spring wildflowers recede into tule fog.

Wildflowers and Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

California spring wildflowers recede into tule fog.

This photograph continues with the theme of last year’s California spring season and my travels to photograph it. (Travel? Remember that?) This location among the range of hills between the coastal areas and the Great Central Valley is full of grasslands, oak-covered hills, though it becomes increasingly dry as you travel further south and east. That particular spot seems almost desert-like during much of the year. But during a short period in late-winter and early-spring, especially in a wet year, it springs to life. Hills are covered in green and there is a climax of extensive and beautiful wildflowers.

Here the wildflowers stretch for miles across the lowlands of a giant valley that runs alongside the San Andreas earthquake fault. A typical photograph of this location might show that expanse and the hills in the distance. But on this morning tule fog arrived and reduced the size of the visible world down to a radius of a few hundred feet — albeit a spectacularly colorful radius!

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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