If my memory is correct (no guarantees!) we were out for a walk in Bath — probably looking for something to eat — when I saw these remarkable weathered doors across the street. Their purpose remained a mystery to me — the doors were closed and there were no signs. It is hard to say if they are even still in use. But the distressed surfaces of the wooden doors got my attention, along with the odd set of colors — pink, virtually blood red, and black.
Continue reading Old Doors, Bath
For some reason I can’t quite define, doors seem to be a popular photographic subject. Perhaps it is curiosity about what lies behind them — both the prospect of something being hidden and the notion of leaving one space and entering another. I often photograph them without quite knowing why, only intuiting that they appeal to me. Here I liked the contrast between the cold and angular nature of the stone structure and the the organic forms painted on the doorway.
Continue reading A Doorway
We stopped in southern Death Valley to photograph big fields of desert gold flowers along with pink/purple sand verbena. Because they are large plants, the colors from both of those were visible from a distance, especially so in the case of desert gold. As we looked for good photo opportunities for those flowers we started to notice the myriad other small plants and flowers underfoot, including the desert stars.
Continue reading Desert Star Bouquet
This photograph features two rather different Death Valley flowers. The bright yellow desert gold flowers cover gravel benches and fans after wet winter seasons. They were all over the place when we visited in late February this year. The desert five-sot is not an uncommon flower, though it isn’t seen in anything close to the numbers of the desert gold. It is also less obvious due to its smaller blossoms and darker color.
We had stopped at this location in southern Death Valley to photograph the (very obvious!) desert gold and to look for the also-plentiful sand verbena blossoms. But almost any time you stop for flowers in the park, if you look around you’ll find others besides those you came for — and here that meant we found plenty of desert five-spot flowers nearby.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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