Tag Archives: spring

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

California Golden Poppies – Antelope Valley, California

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California Golden Poppies - Antelope Valley, California
California Golden Poppies . Antelope Valley, California. April 5, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

California golden poppy flowers at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Preserve. It was extremely windy on the morning of my visit to the extremely popular Poppy Preserve – which seems to have assumed a significant place on the tourist circuit judging by the number of international visitors and the line of cars waiting to enter as I left. (I got there early and pretty much beat the crowd.)

Nothing is quite as much “fun” as trying to photograph flowers in a 40 mph wind. Eventually I found a few sheltered patches of poppies in small hollows and behind ridges and then waited patiently for the rare moments when the gale briefly diminished.

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

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keywords: california, golden, poppy, poppies, flower, orange, antelope, valley, state, park, preserve, spring, nature, plants, usa, travel, scenic, tourism, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Purple Wildflowers

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Purple Wildflowers
Purple Wildflowers. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Purple spring wildflowers photographed along a trail at Almaden Quicksilver Park in central California.

This was a fun shot. I did it handheld with the FF body and the 24-105mm lens. It is interesting to note that it is possible to get tight enough depth of field and even pretty decent bokeh (background blur) from this lens in the right conditions.

keywords: purple, flowers, wild, wildflowers, nature, spring, plants, green, almaden, quicksilver, santa clara, county, san jose, park, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Spring Oak Leaves

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Spring Oak Leaves
Spring Oak Leaves. Calero Hills, California. March 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Some people might say I shouldn’t admit it, but there was an element of serendipity – actually, I made a mistake – in this photograph. (Some who imagine that all photographs should coalesce in the photographer’s mind in their final form before the shutter is clicked won’t want to hear about this.) I was working with a long lens and wide aperture to narrow the depth of field. My plan was to shoot the colorful foliage in the foreground and throw everything beyond out of focus. I set up, let the camera autofocus… and it focused on the “wrong” branches – the branches that are in focus in this shot. “Wait a minute,” I thought, “I kind of like the way that looks!” Instead of an in-focus foreground with everything else OOF, the middle ground is in focus and objects closer and farther away are OOF. It ended up being my favorite version of this scene; I like it more than the shot I was planning on.

keywords: spring, oak, tree, branches, leaves, bright, colorful, yellow, green, calero, santa clara, county, park, california, usa, nature, stock, landscape, morning

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Trees in Mist, Motherlode Near Drytown

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Trees in Mist, Motherlode Near Drytown
Trees in Mist, Motherlode Near Drytown. Sierra Nevada Gold Country, California. March 29, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees in the mist on a wet spring morning in the Motherlode near Drytown, California. This was photographed on a drive up some very lonely and narrow back roads above Highway 49 in Amador County. I only exposed four frames in this challenging weather, but since two of the four turned out to be interesting I’ll console myself with a 50% success rate. :-)

keywords: California, Cloud, Foothills, gold country, Grass, Landscape, Meadow, Morning, Mountain, rain, Rock, Sierra Nevada, Spring, Travel, Tree, mist, fog, drytown, motherlode, gold country, highway 49, usa, scenic, travel, nature, stock, silhouette, green