Tag Archives: quicksilver

Photographs: Nature

Baby Blue Eyes

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Baby Blue Eyes
Baby Blue Eyes flower against green spring plants.

Baby Blue Eyes. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Baby Blue Eyes flower against green spring plants.

Since the pandemic lockdown began almost three months ago, I’ve made it out into the “wild” only a couple of times. Recently the authorities in our area loosened things enough to permit visits to hiking trails in the surrounding hills. I’ve gone early in the morning on weekdays, when fewer people are there, and I’ve stuck to wider trails that used to be dirt roads. It was great to get out — as recently as last Friday — but I did miss most of this year’s wildflower season around here.

This photograph comes from a favorite place along a little trail through a small valley not far from the trailhead. The trail descends into this valley under a canopy of trees and frequently crosses small creeks. Even on warm days it is a place of quiet and dark refuge.

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

Mallow

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Mallow
Spring mallow blossoms, Northern California.

Mallow. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring mallow blossoms, Northern California.

I photographed these wildflowers last spring, right here in the San Francisco Bay Area at one of the local county parks where I frequently hike. In retrospect, there must have been so many wildflowers in bloom on the day I made the photograph that I neglected to make any photographs of the surrounding landscape at all — and the close-up photographs of wildflowers only provide sufficient clues to narrow it down to either of two nearby locations.

It seems like whenever I photograph wildflowers with a macro lens that I end up with a few surprises in the image — some tiny critter than I wasn’t paying attention to while focused on the flowers.

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: Nature

Fairy Lanterns, Spring

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Fairy Lanterns, Spring
A cluster of spring fairy lantern wildflowers.

Fairy Lanterns, Spring. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cluster of spring fairy lantern wildflowers.

These are among my favorite spring wildflowers here in my part of the world — the San Francisco Bay Area. The photograph is from last spring, as this year my opportunities to go out and photograph wildflowers have been much more limited. I did photograph flowers like these at the very beginning of their cycle, when they were still mostly buds and before the social lock-down commenced. Even when the rules were relaxed to allow hikes, the location of these flowers is one in which social distancing could be difficult to maintain.

I photographed this little group of flowers at a local spot where I first “discovered” this kind of flower over a decade ago. Oddly perhaps, given that I’ve hiked in these hills for decades, I was unaware of the fairy lantern flowers and surprised to see them. These grow a long a narrow and somewhat steep trail that heads through a narrow ravined, a place that is often in shade but with a bit of sunlight each day.

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.

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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

Milkmaids Blossoms

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Milkmaids Blossoms
Milkmaids wildflower spring blossoms, California.

Milkmaids Blossoms. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Milkmaids wildflower spring blossoms, California.

While I never have been very good at keeping track of the names of various California wildflowers, I look forward to them each spring. And despite my inability to remember what to call them, I generally know where and when I will find them, and I usually recognize the plants even when the flowers are not present.

There are a few local places I go to find them. These spots are not what anyone else would regard as being special during most of the year — a segment of a trail most folks follow for exercise, a lonely hilltop in a county park, a narrow place in a little canyon I know. These flowers are from one of this places, a little canyon in a county park where I’ve hiked for years.

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.