Tag Archives: quiet

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Redwood Forest Trail

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A quiet trail though old-growth redwood groves.
A quiet trail though old-growth redwood groves.

Redwood Forest Trail. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A quiet trail though old-growth redwood groves.

One of my loose goals on this trip to the Redwood National and State Parks was to scout a bit. This was such a new area to me that I did not have illusions about finding the very best subjects right away, and I regard a first visit like this one as being the start of a longer photographic relationship with the place. In other words, I wanted to photographer then and there, but I also wanted to start to know the place, with an eye to future return visits.

With that in mind I visited four of the parks that comprise the larger state and national park collective. Time will tell if my initial impressions are correct, but each park seems to have a different and somewhat individual character. My last stop in the area, on the morning when I began my drive to a locations further south, was the Prairie Creek State Park. The great old-growth redwood trees are impressive wherever you find them, but it seemed to me that here they were even more so. After photographing some alder trees along a roadway, I moved on and selected a trail to hike, making the choice based more on hunch than anything else. I wandered slowly up a canyon filled with the giant trees as broken clouds moved changing light across the scene.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Quiet Forest

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Quiet Forest
A quiet, Northern California old-growth redwood forest

Quiet Forest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A quiet, Northern California old-growth redwood forest

I had heard rumors of rhododendrons along a trail at this location, so I went there late one afternoon when I figured that the light might be a bit muted by incoming fog and high clouds. I parked and started the short walk along a shallow ridge through the forest and then descended a bit into a small canyon. There were rhododendron blossoms, though I was apparently just a bit too early for their peak.

I and other photographers often look for special light when photographing the redwood forest. There are many types, for example the glowing light that is sometimes found in thinning fog, or the warm light early and late in the day when filtered sunlight makes its way into the groves. In some ways, the light in this photograph is probably a bit more typical. There was a gentle glow coming from cloudy skies to the west, and most of it was blocked by the thick canopy of trees. Because it was neither the morning nor evening golden hour, the light is softer and more subtle… and perhaps more reflective of the quiet and stillness of these places.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Quiet Forest

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Quiet Forest
A quiet and unremarkable forest scene in a peaceful corner of Yosemite Valley

Quiet Forest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A quiet and unremarkable forest scene in a peaceful corner of Yosemite Valley

There are a few things about photography that we don’t often talk about too much. One of them is the fact that some days simply don’t bring remarkable light and conditions. Exceptional conditions are… exceptional. You increase your chances of photographing them if you are out there a lot, but this means that you also increase the chances that you’ll have some days when things seem a bit… dull. This was one of those days. Actually, it had been better earlier in the day and it promised to be good later on, but at the time of day when I made this photograph the light was somewhat “blah.”

So I strapped on my pack, grabbed my tripod, and went for a slow, lazy hike in an area that didn’t feature any particularly distinguishing iconic subjects. It was actually a wonderful walk. Having given up on the idea of finding brilliant light, the pressure was off, and I was free to wander slowly, looking around and going wherever it seemed interesting. At one point I crossed a bridge and decided to follow a little trail into forest along the shores of a river. A ways up that trail I though that rocks and trees off to one side looked interesting, so I left the trail and wandered off that direction, finally stopping to photograph some interesting tree bark patterns. Once I was set up it made sense to look around a bit, and I soon spotted this little scene with a path, some trees, and a large boulder.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Two Owls, Trees and Ponds, Dusk

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Two Owls, Trees and Ponds, Dusk - Two owls in the branches of a group of trees at dusk, reflected in the waters of a pond at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge
Two owls in the branches of a group of trees at dusk, reflected in the waters of a pond at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge

Two Owls, Trees and Ponds, Dusk. Merced National Wildlife Refuge, California. February 4, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two owls in the branches of a group of trees at dusk, reflected in the waters of a pond at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge.

I originally posted this in an impromptu manner and out of sequence back on SuperB owl Sunday – but now it comes up “officially” in the queue. At the very end of a winter day that had begun well before dawn back up the Central Valley closer to Sacramento (in the Cosumnes River area, to be precise) we had headed south to Merced National Wildlife Refuge in search of somewhat different subject for the evening. We arrived to find some geese on the pond, but most were a bit too far off for good photography. But while we settled in to wait for whatever else might show up, I turned my attention to the beautiful and wide-open Central Valley landscape.

This little group of trees grows on a small levee between a couple of ponds in this agricultural area. (Over the past few weeks I have come to know this exact spot very well, as I have been back three times now to photograph there, with better and better luck each time.) After the sun set, some of the most beautiful light appeared – the soft and pink/purple/blue atmospheric light of dusk, when there is still some brighter color in the sky. I saw a single bird high in one of the branches of this tree and soon figured out it was an owl. I set up a composition that centered the tree – creating, I hope, a sense of quiet and stillness – and which included a bit of the sky and the beautiful reflection of the tree’s silhouette in the water. As I shot, a second owl showed up for a few seconds and I was able to get a frame with the couple together.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.