Tag Archives: rocks

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Mouth of the Klamath

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Mouth of the Klamath
Evening fog at the mouth of the Klamath River and the Northern California Coastline

Mouth of the Klamath. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening fog at the mouth of the Klamath River and the Northern California Coastline

The first day of my early June visit to the Redwood National and State Parks area was largely devoted to the very long drive up from the San Francisco Bay Area. I got an early start — always important to at least try to get out of the Bay Area early on commute days! — and was in Redding by late morning. While that is certainly far enough north it isn’t far enough west, and a three-hour drive to the coast was still ahead of me, plus perhaps another hour north along the coast to my lodgings in Crescent City.

After so much inland driving, it was a relief to finally reach the coast in the Eureka/Arcata area and to then turn north toward my destination. I lingered a bit in the Klamath River area. I feel a bit of a connection to this river as I have spent some time photographing birds in the area where it crosses the California-Oregon border. I didn’t know this area around the river’s mouth at all — I just knew that the low hills and coastal light were beautiful. I crossed the river on a long bridge, passed by various businesses clustered near its north end, and soon found a promising road out to the hills just to the north, from which there is a panoramic view back across the rivers itself and the hills and coast to the south.

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

Ferns, Creek, And Forest

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Ferns, Creek, And Forest
Ferns growing along the banks of a redwood forest creek.

Ferns, Creek, And Forest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ferns growing along the banks of a redwood forest creek.

One of my goals on this trip to the Redwood National And State Parks region was scouting. I often arrive at a new location — and this are was new to me — without doing a whole lot of advance research. This means that I’ll engage in a bit of semi-blind wandering at first, but it also means that I get the thrill of discovery instead of going just to well-known spots. I knew that Jedediah Smith Redwoods Park was supposed to have rhododendron blooms and, of course, redwoods, but I wasn’t quite sure where to look. So I poked around a bit.

The first “poking” was unsuccessful, and I ended up at a locked gate on a gravel road. I could have walked further, but on this first visit I wanted to cover more ground than walking would allow, so I back down the road and wound around to the other side of this park. Before long I did find redwood groves with blooming rhododendrons, and I spent a bit of time photographing there in morning light. As the sun rose higher the light was less agreeable, so I began exploring again, eventually ending up at another dead-end road. This time I loaded up my pack and started walking, eventually arriving at a beautiful old-growth redwood grove. I passed this little vignette of creek, ferns, and light along the way.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Snow-Covered Trees, Cliff

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Snow-Covered Trees, Cliff
Spring snow blankets trees in front of a Yosemite Valley granite cliff face

Snow-Covered Trees, Cliff. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring snow blankets trees in front of a Yosemite Valley granite cliff face

This past few days has been pretty busy, as I work on making prints for an exhibit that opens on June 2. It looks like the prints are now all made — but the work of trimming, matting, framing, and otherwise preparing them continues over the next few days. The exhibit is “Transitions: Winter Into Spring — Photographs by G Dan Mitchell and Friends.” It features photographs that I made during this year’s winter and spring Yosemite Renaissance artist-in-residency in the park, and photographs by a group of talented photographers and friends including Jerry Bosworth, Franka Mlikota Gabler, Charlotte Hamilton Gibb, David Hoffman, Vidya Kane, and Kerby Smith. The show opens at Gallery 5 in Oakhurst, just outside the park, on June 2 and runs through the end of the month. There is a public reception at the gallery on June 9. If you are in the area, please come and visit!

This photograph is not in the show, but it was made during the project. As the “Winter Into Spring” title of the show suggests, I was in the park frequently from February through the April, working in conditions that ranged from freezing cold and wintry right on through warm and sunny. This photograph came from an early spring day when one of the last snow storms of the season passed through the valley and dropped a few inches of snow — just enough to frost the trees and turn the meadows white. It didn’t last long – most of it melted by the following day, and when I returned a week later I photographed in warm spring sunshine.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest, Granite, And Spring Snow

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Forest, Granite, And Spring Snow
Gentle spring snow flurries on Yosemite Valley meadows and forest

Forest, Granite, And Spring Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Gentle spring snow flurries on Yosemite Valley meadows and forest

Now that we are well into spring and it feels more like summer here in California, it is fun to take a final look back at winter in the photographic rear-view mirror. It is hard to believe that it was only weeks ago that I was photographing in falling snow in the Valley! When I returned there one week after making this photograph, virtually all traces of the snow had melted and it felt more like late spring or summer.

The storm that came through the Valley during this visit wasn’t a big one. Typical of most “shoulder season” storms in the Sierra, it only dropped an inch or two of snow, and it passed quickly. But for a moment all of the sensory elements of winter made one final stand — the blue-gray color of the scene, the distant cliffs disappearing into falling snow and clouds, and the colors muted to an almost monochrome quality. What the photograph cannot capture, but may possibly suggest, are things like the cool dampness and the changes to sound on these days — a quiet stillness where the sound-space seems larger somehow.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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