Tag Archives: plant

Photographs: Nature

Leaf Edges

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Leaf Edges
Leaf edges with thorns in the shape of small waves.

Leaf Edges. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Leaf edges with thorns in the shape of small waves.

Few of us seem to be able to resist photographing thick leaves like these, particularly when they overlap in such graphically interesting ways, presenting a contrast between dark shadows and the bright spines on the edges of the leaves. I know I can’t resist, and almost any time I find myself in a garden I end up pointing the camera at such things, even when photography is not my primary reason for visiting.

My first instinct with a subject like this one is frequently to go straight to monochrome. I’m not sure if that is because I feel that removing color may focus attention on the graphical forms or simply because the earliest photographs in this genre that I saw were monochromatic. Here I went the opposite direction, keeping and even amping up the intensity of the colors a bit, warming the shadow light as well.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature

Nightmare Plant

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Nightmare Plant
A colorful succulent plant covered with tooth-like thorns.

Nightmare Plant. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A colorful succulent plant covered with tooth-like thorns.

OK, maybe I took some liberty with the name of this plant. I actually do not know what it is. (I’ll gladly accept identification help.) I think I photographed it during a visit to a particular botanical garden, though the details probably are not important. What is important is that… I really don’t want to run into a gigantic version of this plant in the middle of a very dark night!

Photographing plants is not my main thing, but at times I do find them very interesting — whether just because they happen to be beautiful or because they possess a strangeness that we usually overlook. In many cases they present remarkable graphical subjects, full of textures, colors, angles and more. They also are almost everywhere — so if you are thinking, “I can’t get away to make photographs…” maybe you can just look around and find something close by.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fairy Lantern

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Fairy Lantern
A fairy lantern (globe lily) flower, photographed in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area

Fairy Lantern. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fairy lantern (globe lily) flower, photographed in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area

It is difficult to come up with a rational explanation for why some wildflowers particularly catch my attention, but it is fact that some do. I have a short list of Sierra Nevada wildflowers that will always cause me to pause and look more closely. In a particular area of the Northern California hills that flower is this one, the fairy lantern or globe lily.

Somehow I managed to hike for decades in these hills before I “discovered” this flower on a hike through a small valley one spring while visiting the non-urban park that is closer to me than any other, a place where I’ve gone for spring “conditioning hikes” since I can remember. One time a perhaps two decades ago I took a different route through this spot and was enchanted by these mysterious flowers. Now I mark the onset of spring here by their appearance. They aren’t really easy to photograph since they don’t open up energetically, and you must get down low and photograph them from a bit underneath to reveal the flower — and the colors are subtle and easily washed out by any bright light.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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.

Annual Favorites, Photographs: Nature

Patterns in Green

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Patterns in Green
The stalk of a plant at a formal garden.

Patterns in Green. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The stalk of a plant at a formal garden.

First of all, about the sort of vague title for this photograph… I do tend to use titles for some photographs, particularly landscapes and wildlife, that don’t give away too much information about the subject. I have my reasons. For one thing, I think that the photograph should be free to speak to the viewer visually, mostly on its own merits and without telling the viewer what to think. For another, in some cases it is better to not focus people’s attention too much of the specific location, particularly if that might distract them from the visual value of the photograph and double-particularly if the location is one that might be at risk of damage if too many people went looking for it.

However, none of those noble — or so I tell myself — considerations are at work here. The truth is… I have no idea what kind of plant this is. I don’t even recall specifically the act of making the photograph, though I do know that it was during a visit to a garden that we went to order to photograph flowers and plants. (At about this point, someone will know what kind of plant it is and write to let me know. I’m counting on you! :-)

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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.