Tag Archives: season

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Two Rocks, Tenaya Creek, Spring

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Two Rocks, Tenaya Creek, Spring

Two Rocks, Tenaya Creek, Spring. Yosemite National Park, California. May 9, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring runoff water in Tenaya Creek flows over and around two rocks and reflects the colors of spring growth, Yostmite National Park, California.

Starting later than in most years, I made my first 2009 visit to Yosemite Valley on May 9. The plan was to arrive early on Saturday morning (accomplished), photograph spring runoff (accomplished) and dogwoods (accomplished) and spring trees and other foliage (accomplished) and then get a campsite for the night… Oops. The campsites were gone and I ended up a couple of spots too far down the waiting list. So, instead of staying over on Saturday night and shooting a bit more on Sunday morning, I did a round trip from the SF Bay Area. Ah, well – it is worth the drive to spend one spring day in the Valley.

In the late afternoon I wandered on up toward Mirror Lake. I’m not all that enthusiastic about photographing the lake itself, but along the way there are lots of interesting things – this time of year those include dogwood trees and Tenaya Creek, the subject of this photograph. Along the steeper section of the creek close to Mirror Lake, the water was quite high and washing over the tops of some pretty large rocks. When I spotted the greenish surface reflection coming from sunlit trees along the opposite bank of the creek I decided to put the two subjects together – and his was the result.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
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keywords: california, sierra nevada, travel, Yosemite, valley, national park, tenaya, creek, spring, season, flow, water, blur, rock, boulder, stream, creek, abstract, color, reflection, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, usa, season, runoff, curve, over, around, stock

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

Spring Lupine Blossoms, Point Lobos

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Spring Lupine Blossoms, Point Lobos

Spring Lupine Blossoms, Point Lobos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. April 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring lupine flowers blossom at punta de los lobos marinos, Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

The weather was quite foggy at Point Lobos when I photographed these blooming lupine plants along the bluffs near the punta de los lobos marinos in late April. This is actually very interesting light for wildflower photography because diffused light decreases the harsh highlights and brings out a bit more detail in the shadows, even though color balance can be a bit tricky. There were several big clusters of tall lupine plants along this bluff, and I picked one and spent some time photographing it. While sometimes the problem can be finding enough good flowers to get a shot, here the problem more or less the opposite – the flowers were so thick that it was hard to compose a shot that let the foreground flowers stand out a bit from the background!

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

keywords: point, lobos, california, usa, spring, monterey, peninsula, carmel, coast, pacific, state, reserve, park, nature, lupine, wildflower, flower, foliage, plant, blossom, bloom, lupine, leaf, nature, scenic, stem, petal, cluster, season, color, stock, yellow, pink, white, purple

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Redwing Blackbird on Fence Post

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Redwing Blackbird on Fence Post

Redwing Blackbird on Fence Post. Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California. April 28, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A male redwing blackbird perches atop a fence post on a foggy spring morning at Castillero Pond, Calero County Park.

This should be the last in the redwing blackbird series for a while – yet another photographed on a foggy morning at Castillero Pond at Calero Park. This photograph shows a male redwing though the characteristic red patch on the shoulder or top of the wing is not so easy to see in this shot is it is when the bird is engaged in display behavior.

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

keywords: male, redwing, blackbird, bird, avian, perch, stand, atop, top, fence, fencepost, post, lichen, spring, season, morning, fog, cloud, grass, castillero, pond, calero, county, park, santa clara, california, usa, wildlife, nature, stock

Commentary, Locations

Death Valley. Photography. Me.

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Some folks have written asking for ideas and advice about visiting Death Valley. (My first advice is go last month – too hot now!) In response I decided to start writing something that summarizes my experience (which is significant, but nowhere near that of the real DV experts) in the park, especially as it pertains to photographic locations and times of day/year to visit.

I originally thought I’d finish it right after my return from the park at the beginning of April. Didn’t happen… Instead, as I wrote the darn thing kept getting longer and longer. Today I decided to illustrate it with some of my DV photographs, and then I sat back and made a longer outline of the subjects I will eventually cover.

All of this is my way of saying that there eventually will be an article here on photographing Death Valley… but please be patient.