Tag Archives: spring

Photographs: Nature

Columbine Flower

Image Leave a comment
Columbine Flower
A purple, yellow, and white columbine flower.

Columbine Flower. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A purple, yellow, and white columbine flower.

The first time I recall seeing, or at least recognizing, a Columbine flower was on a long-ago Sierra backpacking trip that took me way up high. Those versions of this flower are essentially white, and their graceful shape surprised me in the high, rugged terrain. The flower became one of my Sierra favorites, and I’ve always associated it with the high country.

Encountering these Columbines near sea level in the San Francisco Bay Area reminded me that there’s more to this kind of flower than that initial experience — though it also reminded me of high country visits. These versions of the flower were quite beautiful, combining the familiar white with purple and yellow. I photographed this on as a last bit of filtered sunlight back-lit the petals.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Nature

Coreopsis Flowers

Image Leave a comment
Coreopsis Flowers
A garden of coreopsis flowers in the evening shade.

Coreopsis Flowers. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A garden of coreopsis flowers in the evening shade.

This is the next in a series of photographs from our early-June evening at a favorite San Francisco Peninsula garden. After enjoying the more typical festivities (eating, drinking, sitting, and enjoying the view) we wandered off into the gardens to make few photographs as the evening began to produce softer light

We arrived at this section of the garden, a place that is typically in (photographically challenging) full sun, as the last beams of sunlight began to dissipate. The shaded light opened up the shadows and reveals details of the flowers that might be overwhelmed by midday light.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Nature

Leaves in Shadows

Image Leave a comment
Leaves in Shadows
Lush leaves in the shadows of a San Francisco Peninsula garden.

Leaves in Shadows. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Lush leaves in the shadows of a San Francisco Peninsula garden.

In early June we visited our favorite San Francisco Peninsula garden. We usually go early in the morning, but this time we went late in the day — there was a special event featuring music, drinks, and food, along with the opportunity to sit under oak trees or on the lawn and watch the evening light arrive. As appealing as all of that was, we still DID bring cameras.

Before the light decreased too much, we managed to do a quick circuit of some of the more interesting parts of the garden, mostly looking for flowers. But we also stopped in a dark little grove where most of the flowers were spent, and here I photographed this lush growth beneath the trees.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

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

Yosemite Forest and Cliffs

Image Leave a comment
Forest trees in afternoon sun with Yosemite Valley cliffs in the background.

Yosemite Forest and Cliffs. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Forest trees in afternoon sun with Yosemite Valley cliffs in the background.

Another recently-shared photograph included three trees, the base of El Capitan, and the lower reaches of the creek that produces Horsetail Fall. In that post I mentioned that the camera position was a fruitful one, and that I had made several photographs from nearly the same spot on this visit to Yosemite. You would need guess from the very different subject, but this photograph comes from the same spot. I’m sure that I did not move the camera more than a few yards between the two photographs, though I did swing it around by about 180 degrees.

This row of trees, conifers mixed with deciduous trees at this elevation, stood at the edge of a partially flooded meadow along the Merced River. Places like this allow longer view that what we typically see within the forest, and from here the view included some of the monumental cliffs of surrounding the valley. In this rendition I cropped tightly around the trees to bring the focus on them.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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