Tag Archives: spring

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Heart Of The Desert

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Heart shaped formation on a desert playa
“Heart Of The Desert” — Dried mud patterns on the Panamint Lake Playa, Death Valley National Park.

This is not typically the direction I point the camera… but sometimes there are interesting things to see right at your feet! I had stopped at a playa whose edge is right next to the main highway into Death Valley. I got out and wandered on to the playa with my camera. (This might be the world’s easiest walking.)

This playa is typically dry, and after the rare storms that bring enough rain to create mud, the playa surface dries out and cracks into interesting patterns. As I wandered around this visual playground I spied this rather unusual patten in the surface of teh playa.

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.

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Photographs: Nature

Purple Owl’s Clover Flowers

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Purple Owl's Clover Flowers
A purple owl’s clover bloom, San Luis Obispo County, California

Purple Owl’s Clover Flowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A purple owl’s clover bloom, San Luis Obispo County, California.

I continue to work my way through the California spring wildflower photography — and this isn’t the end of it! This was a better-than-average year for wildflowers in the state. Winter rains were above normal, and a good portion of the rain fell later in the season, including some big storms that swept though in early March.

I photographed this flower in San Luis Obispo County, in one of the many oak and grassland areas that are so common in the state’s lowlands and foothills. We found a spot with uncounted flowers spread across large meadows, stopped, and spent a few hours wandering around with macro lenses on the cameras.

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

Clearing Storm, Evening

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Clearing Storm, Evening
A spring storm clears in evening light, San Luis Obispo County

Clearing Storm, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A spring storm clears in evening light, San Luis Obispo County.

Late in the day had travelled across the main valley of the Carizzo Plain to a location that I thought would bring good evening light form the west. It had been a day of mixed and changeable weather conditions — sunlight one moment, rain the next, and patterns of both speeding across the landscape. My plan was to stake out a location open to the sunset light and hope for the best. It turned out OK, though clouds stood between me and the light and it never really did light up where I was standing.

However, because I was up against the mountains of the Temblor Range I had a bit of elevation, just enough to gain a wider view of the landscape. As sunset approached, breaks appeared in the cloud cover on the far side of the valley, and I was able to use a long lens to pick out vignettes from this larger landscape. This photograph makes in clear that I was shooting from the shadows, so to speak — look at the dark valley, broken by sky light reflected in water. But beyond that a newly green springtime ridge was in the sun, with beams of golden light coming through the clouds.

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

Two Tidy Tips Flowers

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Two Tidy Tips Flowers
Two tidy tips flowers, San Luis Obispo County, California

Two Tidy Tips Flowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two tidy tips flowers, San Luis Obispo County, California.

How could anyone not like this flower?! It is easy, I think, to take some flowers for granted, but the color pattern of this flower is wild and quite striking. I photographed this pair near the beginning April in San Luis Obispo County, where we had gone for one day of photography in its landscape of grasslands and oaks.

News reports, of course, seem to highlight a very small number of supposedly “special” wildflower locations each year. In fact, some of those places can be pretty special. But they are hardly the only great locations for finding California spring wildflowers! In truth, you can almost certainly find great displays within an easy day’s drive from wherever you live in the state, and in many places you can find them even closer.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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