Tag Archives: poppy

Photographing Spring Wildflowers

PattyPhotographingFlowersShellCreek20190401
Patricia Mitchell photographing spring wildflowers at Shell Creek

Photographing Spring Wildflowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patricia Mitchell photographing spring wildflowers in San Luis Obispo County.

Many, though perhaps not all readers, know that my wife Patricia Emerson Mitchell is also a fine photographer. She photographs many things, but her speciality is the small world, usually seen by means of training her macro lens on flowers and foliage, often with an eye to seeing the shapes and colors in abstract ways.

On our way to Death Valley earlier this spring we took a detour through California hill country where fields of wildflowers were blooming. During most of the year this spot would be dry and brown, but winter rains turn it green, and in wet years like this one we get to see astonishing wildflower blooms.


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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California Golden Poppies – Antelope Valley, California

California Golden Poppies - Antelope Valley, California
California Golden Poppies . Antelope Valley, California. April 5, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

California golden poppy flowers at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Preserve. It was extremely windy on the morning of my visit to the extremely popular Poppy Preserve – which seems to have assumed a significant place on the tourist circuit judging by the number of international visitors and the line of cars waiting to enter as I left. (I got there early and pretty much beat the crowd.)

Nothing is quite as much “fun” as trying to photograph flowers in a 40 mph wind. Eventually I found a few sheltered patches of poppies in small hollows and behind ridges and then waited patiently for the rare moments when the gale briefly diminished.

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

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