You often hear the expression that there is a “carpet of wildflowers” in a landscape. That description was apt in quite a few areas of Death Valley National Park when we visited in late February. To be clear, much of the landscape of this desert park sill looked like… desert. But in places there were wildflower blooms of impressive size.
Continue reading Desert Gold Bloom
A good number of my recent Death Valley (almost?) superbloom photographs feature vast fields of these yellow flowers. Because they appear in large numbers, standing tall and swaying in the wind, they are among the most obvious visual evidence of the bloom. It occurred to me that I rarely photograph them close up, so here’s an attempt t rectify that omission.
Desert gold flowers grow at the top of long stems above plants that may, in the right conditions, have some rather thick leaves. Because the stems are long and thin the plants are almost always waving back and forth in the breeze. This can make close-up photographs a bit of a challenge!
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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We just returned from another visit to Death Valley National Park. Wildflowers are blooming in California’s deserts and the show is far from over. It has been an odd weather year in California, but desert areas received abundant well-timed rainfall that is producing an above average (and perhaps earlier than usual?) wildflower bloom. We saw the potential back in December and scheduled our return to the park accordingly. We were not disappointed.
Is this one of the proverbial “super bloom” years? Few are using that term at the present moment, but it is clearly an above average year. Some areas, like this gravel fan below desert hills, are covered with fields of desert gold flowers. Small flowers are underfoot everywhere. Other locations are green with sprouting plants that will continue to produce new blooms over coming weeks.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.
I have often wondered about the popular name of these “Chinese houses” flowers — what the connection could possibly be with houses from China. Regardless, they are among the spring wildflowers that grow in the oak forests and grasslands around the San Francisco Bay Area, including a trail through a park south of San Jose where I photographed these specimens.
Some flowers are pretty easy to photograph — they are colorful and have shapes that are easy to photograph. (Close-ups of some flowers are tricky due to the narrow depth of field at short distances.) I’ve never found the Chinese houses easy to photograph. It is difficult to find a plant on which all of the buds are in this colorful stage — usually some are not open or already turning brown. The plant often grows low to the ground among other distracting elements. Bright sun can create dark shadows and wash out details. So I was pleased to find this group in an areas of soft, shaded light and to find all of the flowers open and colorful.
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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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(All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.)
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