Tag Archives: plants

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Desert Holly, Dry Wash

Image Leave a comment
Desert Holly, Dry Wash
Desert holly plants grow along the curves of a small desert wash

Desert Holly, Dry Wash. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Desert holly plants grow along the curves of a small desert wash.

Among plants that manage to eke out an existence in dry landscapes, such as that of Death Valley National Park, there seems to be a spectrum of accommodations to dryness. Out near the sharp edge of that bell curve is found the desert holly plant. In some of the locations where I see it, the plant seems to be just about the only thing that is still able to live on the driest and rockiest soils.

The specimens in this photograph are growing along the course of a dry wash, and they probably get a good portion of whatever small amount of water that sustains them during brief periods when water flows following rainstorms. (It had rained heavily during the previous month here… and there was no visible water in this wash.) The plants present a sometimes surprising bit of green in this otherwise arid and bare landscape.

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.

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

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Dusk Dunes

Image Leave a comment
Dusk Dunes
Soft evening light on low sand dunes

Dusk Dunes. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft evening light on low sand dunes.

Sand dunes are perhaps the most classic “desert” photography subject. For most people, they are their first association with these places, and their dry, bare (or so it seems), and utterly dry features are some combination of beautiful, intriguing, and dangerous. I am certainly not immune to their appeal, and photographing them can be an endlessly challenging activity. One reason is that as photographic subjects they are much more varied than you might initially imagine. While they have their own shapes and colors, these are changed radically by wind, color and intensity of light, and more. They provide one other challenge, too — when I first look at them it always seems like they will be easy to photograph, but they always end up presenting more challenges than I expected.

I love photographing dunes in the marginal light at the start and end of the day, and especially the time right around and just after sunset. At these times the dunes undergo sometimes-astonishing color transformations. The warmer tones, which are sometimes sun-blasted into neutrality during the day, begin to emerge in the softer light. And the dunes pick and reflect a wide variety of colors — blue from darker sky; reds, yellows, and even purple from sunset clouds. I photographed these smaller dune formations from a distance in the early evening.

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.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Pond, Clearing Fog, Morning Light

Image Leave a comment
Pond, Clearing Fog, Morning Light
Water plants and clearing fog in morning light over a wetland pond

Pond, Clearing Fog, Morning Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Water plants and clearing fog in morning light over a wetland pond.

Luckily for me, I live in a part of the world with lots of opportunities to find watery landscapes that may be affected by fog, mist, clouds, rain, and even a brilliant sunrise or sunset. I live less than an hour from the California coast, and only a few hours from spectacular places such as the Big Sur Coast and Point Reyes National Monument. There are many other places not far away that feature this things — water, light, and atmosphere — and if I visit at the right times I get the bonus of quiet and stillness.

I made this photograph on one of those foggy mornings near water. The sun had come up already and the spectacular dawn and immediate post-dawn light was gone. But as the sun rises it also warms the air, and the fog begins to thin and dissipate. When I came upon these interesting water plants, going to brown at the end of their season, the air had cleared enough to begin to reveal more distant details under the soft but directional 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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Pond And Early Morning Autumn Sky

Image Leave a comment
Pond And Early Morning Autumn Sky
A marshland pond reflects cloudy early morning autumn sky

Pond And Early Morning Autumn Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A marshland pond reflects cloudy early morning autumn sky.

I regard this as a sort of “almost winter” landscape, since I made the photograph in mid-December, about a week before the winter solstice. By this time of year California is solidly into the wet-season regime — the polar opposite of the state’s summer. Pacific weather fronts from the Gulf of Alaska sweep across the state periodically, and when the weather behaves somewhat normally the states wetland areas come back to life. And, yes, by California it is definitely the “cold season” by mid-September!

Scenes similar to this one may be found all over the state. All you need is a source of water and some expanse of relatively flat terrain where the water can pool. This one is located in an agricultural plain in the central part of the state, but I’ve seen similar pools across the entire state from south to north and east to west. You can even find them at times in the desert areas. This morning brought skies filled with clouds portending the arrival of one of those winter weather systems. After an initial burst of sunrise light the sun moved behind clouds and the colors softened. I photographed past some remnant shallow water plants, now gone to winter brown, and toward the early morning sky to the north.

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.

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