Tag Archives: spring

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dogwood Flowers, Merced River

May 8, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Flower-laden spring dogwood branches above the rushing water of the Merced River, Yosemite National Park.

It seems that everyone needs a photograph of white dogwood flowers and green leaves against the backdrop of the waters of the Merced River – and here is mine! I made this photograph on a one-day quick trip to the Valley timed to coincide with the peak of the dogwood blooms. This was a spectacular dogwood blossom season! I had heard reports of larger than usual numbers of the flowers, but I was still very surprised to see how thickly the flowers covered many, many trees. I’ve seen quite a few dogwood blooms in Yosemite Valley, and this had to rank among the most impressive.

The challenges of the “dogwood over water” photographs are several. The first it to find a branch hanging over or near the Merced. This isn’t as easy at is might seem. Such branches aren’t exactly everywhere along the banks of the river, and in many places the flowers face away from the bank – not such an appealing image – or might appear against water that is too rough and provides a distracting background. Often dogwood flowers that catch your attention with their start white shapes turn out to be less than pristine close up – they might have brown tips, holds in the petals, or be discolored – and it can take a bit of looking to find some that are in great shape. Ideally there will be something high above the opposite bank the provides a bit of color to the water. Then there are the conflicting desires to use a long exposure to blur the water a bit while trying to capture a sharply delineated image of the flowers… which sit at the end of long, flexible branches that move in the slightest breeze! With patience, the breezes may eventually pause, and careful timing helps time the exposure between periods of motion.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Lupine, Sierra Nevada

May 7, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A thick patch of spring lupine flowers high in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Range, California.

We had time for only a one-day trip to Yosemite, timed to coincide with the peak of the dogwood bloom season in the Valley. We left very early – way before dawn – with a plan of arriving in the Valley not too long after the sun came up. (This time of year, arriving by dawn in the Valley would require a 2:00 a.m. start time – and, in some ways, the Valley itself isn’t so much a dawn photography subject.) After we entered the park on highway 120 I started looking for some dogwood trees that often blossom a bit later – since the light was good here it would make more sense to stop and shoot that to keep driving to arrive further on when the light wasn’t as good.

We saw a couple of trees thick with flowers, and quickly turned around to drive back to them. We spent some time photographing these trees and then moved on. (Unlike in a typical year, there was no snow at the junction with the still-closed Tioga Pass Road, and areas that would usually be full of run-off water seemed largely dry.) The area, burned twice in recent years, along the road as it descends toward the Valley is often a good place to find wildflowers. I wasn’t expecting too much in this drought year, and for the most part I was right – but at a turn-off we suddenly came upon a very large patch of beautiful lupines and stopped to photograph. I’m crazy about shooting into the light, so I got down low and photographed these flowers with the light coming from almost directly behind.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Spring Torrent, Merced River

May 6, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Rushing spring run-off flow and reflected evening colors, Merced River

I made this photograph at the very end of the day, on my first real spring trip to Yosemite Valley of the season. There were rumors of a bigger-than-usual dogwood bloom (true, it turns out), which was probably the main factor related to the timing of this quick trip. However, in this very dry year in California, any high water in Valley rivers and waterfalls was going to come very early – and, in fact, the waterfalls were reasonably high, the Merced was flowing with some force, and there was almost no snow still visible anywhere.

In the evening I ended up near Pohono Bridge, shooting dogwood trees and some photographs of early evening light filtering through the forest. As the light in the Valley faded, it become more difficult to photograph the nearby forest, but some sunset color lit the higher faces of the cliffs, and this colorful light reflected on the surface of the Merced River. The lower light also allowed me to lengthen shutter speeds and allow the motion of the water to blur.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Redwood Forest Light

April 24, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Misty morning light shines through coast redwood forest, Northern California

On this late-March morning I headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge, hoping to photograph the trillium bloom at Muir Woods National Monument. Every year this event seems to sneak up on me, and I often just barely catch it before the bloom ends or even miss it. I had heard that the flowers were already in bloom a week earlier, so I wasn’t sure what I would find – but I did get the chance to photograph these flowers that seem to announce the arrival of spring in the redwood forest.

There is a particular trail at this National Monument where I usually go to find the trillium flowers. They seem to like the slightly more open light of this hillside trail, and as I ascend it I usually find quite a few of the flowers… if I arrive at the right time. Every so often I remind myself to look in the other direction, too, since there the hillside drops off steeply, running all the way down to the creek at the bottom of the canyon. The elevated perspective provides a somewhat unusual view into the forest. One challenge of shooting redwoods is that so often you are angling the camera/lens up, and consequently have to deal with various challenges including bright sky appearing in the scene and the effects of converging perspective line. But from this trail it is possible to point the camera horizontally and shoot right into the forest itself, far above the base of the trees down in the canyon below.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: spring

Dogwood Flowers, Merced River

Lupine, Sierra Nevada

Spring Torrent, Merced River

Redwood Forest Light

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.