I am not the flower photographer in our household — that would be Patty’sforte. But seeing so many flower photographs (hers in the house and online), I can’t resist trying my hand at this occasionally. In late May we headed to a large Bay Area garden to spend the morning with this subject, and I came back with a few photographs.
I find it pretty challenging to photograph these flowers. Often they are out in the full sun (I carry a sun screen), they move in the wind, and the small scale presents some focus challenges including depth-of-field issues. But sometimes the color and form of the flower seems to carry things, and the pink-blending-toward-yellow of this flower caught my attention.
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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
Pink dawn light illuminates the surface of an Alkali Lake and the Minarets, and Mounts Ritter and Banner
Although it has been almost a year since I made this photograph, I recall the morning very well. I had stayed at a cheap motel in Mammoth Lakes the night before, and when I got up well before dawn I had no specific shooting plan other than to head in the general direction of places where I would find aspens, most likely somewhat south of Mammoth. I drove down to highway 395 from Mammoth and spotted the steam from the hot springs along with some fog in Long Valley. Figuring that I wasn’t certain where I would find the aspen color I was looking for but that I was certain that interesting stuff was happening out in the valley, I changed plans and headed there instead.
I drove to small lake where I have photographed a number of times in the past, pulled off the road, grabbed my gear, and headed out to the bank of the lake opposite the still relatively dark Sierra crest. This was an unusual early October, and three relatively large winter-type storms had passed through during the previous week, dropping substantial early season snow all along the upper reaches of the Sierra. As a consequence, at a time of year when it usually looks more like summer, the range had taken on a very wintry appearance. As the first pre-dawn light came to the sky, it turned the slightly hazy atmosphere a beautiful shade of pink and this light was reflected in the surface of the small lake.
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. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Subtle colors illuminate a ridge top and sunset clouds in the Sierra Nevada foothills, California.
This is yet another virtual “happy accident” photograph. I posted a different version of it earlier, but it may have been long enough that I can tell the story again. I had been in Yosemite Valley and surrounding areas for the day, and late in the afternoon I left The Valley to head into Merced Canyon where the redbud and California Golden Poppies were blooming. The plan was to get into the canyon while there was still sun in the sky but at a time when lengthening shadows would bring some soft light to various deeper/steeper sections of the canyon. So I shot there until a bit less than an hour before sunset and then decided to head on home, starting the long drive back to the San Francisco Bay Area.
I headed down the canyon, still unable to completely stop looking at the newly green grasses, the plants that were starting to leaf out, and the profusion of purple redbud blossoms and bright orange California Poppies spreading up some of the steep hillsides. But as beautiful as much of this was, I wasn’t seeing photographs in it, so I continued on. Soon I reached Briceburg, where the road leaves the Merced and climbs steeply as it heads toward Mariposa. Climbing this steep section I continued to glance back over my shoulder at the green, chaparral-coverd ridges behind me and the clouds above them that were beginning to pick up a bit of sunset color. As I neared the top of the climb I almost kept going – doing the internal debate between it might make an interesting photograph and I’m hungry and I want to start home! – I passed a photographer set up beside the road, and I quickly recognized him as a friend. Now I had no choice but to stop, so I did a u-turn at the first turnout and headed back down the hill to where he and his wife were. I grabbed my gear, said “hi” as I set up, and figured that I might as well make a few final exposures of the delicately colored sky and the subtle tones that the last light imparted to the upper ridges.
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. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Subtle evening light gently colors the chaparral-covered hills of the Sierra Nevada foothills on a spring evening, California.
I’m going to take a brief break from posting photographs from my early April week in Utah and post one or more recent photographs from here in California. This past weekend I found time (and the right weather, or so I thought) to make a very quick one-day run up to Yosemite and back. My main goal was to photograph wildflowers in the Merced River Canyon, where lots of interesting color starts to appear about this time each year. Although there was some real concern about how the wildflowers might develop this year, given the serious drought in much of California, some late-season rains and other factors seem to have jump-started some really interesting displays. In Merced Canyon there are lots of wonderful wildflowers and other things, but I was especially interested in California poppies (which, actually, are found throughout much of the state right now) and the blooming redbud plants.
My day didn’t go quite as planned. I was sort of hoping to run into a bunch of other photographs who were likely to be in the canyon as well, but a series of decisions on my part caused me to end up in different places than where they went. After shooting into mid-morning in the Merced Canyon I decided to make a quick trip into Yosemite Valley, but not too long after I arrived there some clouds began to roll in. Clouds can be wonderful in and around the Valley – and I actually managed to use them in some other photographs I’ll share later – but this was still not quite what I was originally looking for. Very late in the afternoon I did a bit of final shooting in and around the Valley, and then I decided to head back down into Merced Canyon before the light was completely gone. I made a few photographs of redbud and California poppies, but it seemed like my day for photography was coming to an end, so I packed up and started my long trek back to the Bay Area. Near the top of the steep climb out of Briceburg I started to notice some interesting light on the spring-green ridges to my right and behind me, and then I spotted a familiar-looking figure alongside the road with a tripod and camera. At this point I had to stop, to say “hi” to my friends if for no other reason! Then I saw this lovely and subtle light on the ridge – the cloud-muted light from the setting sun was washing the clouds with a gentle pink light, and its glow was adding warm colors to the green chaparral near the summit ridge… and a moment later this light was gone.
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. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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