One Yellow Flower. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Spring flower and buds growing on the forest floor at Almaden Quicksilver Park.
keywords: nature, spring, yellow, flower, stem, grass, leaf, bokeh, california, usa, santa clara, county, park, almaden, quicksilver, trail, stock, misty, soft, focus
Grapevines at Sunset, Falkner Winery. Temecula, California. May 4, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Grapevines photographed against the sunset sky at the Falkner Winery near Temecula, California.
This photo is related to some of what I described in the previous post – my daughter’s recent wedding, which took place at this winery in Temecula. In early May we were there to make some arrangements, and in the evening I wandered off for a moment (as the father of the bride is prone to do… ;-) and photographed the new vines of the nearby vineyard late in the day.
keywords: grape, vines, leaves, grapevine, branch, stem, vineyard, winery, falkner, temecula, southern, california, usa, travel, vacation, nature, landscape, scenic, stock
Pink and White Wildflowers. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 26, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Pink and white spring wildflowers photographed at Almaden Quicksilver Park, California.
Once again, a photo shot handheld with the 24-105mm lens. I like to use this photo and some similar ones to respond to folks who are convinced that “the 24-105mm f/4 L IS has bad bokeh.” I’ll admit that it doesn’t always produce great blurred backgrounds, but if you are careful you can actually get some nice bokeh from it. And for handheld wildflower shots its focal length is just about perfect and the image stabilization turns out the be very useful.
I’ve been told that these flowers are “Stachys ajugoides – rigid wood mint,” though after looking around at some online photos of that plant I’m not 100% certain since the leaves don’t seem quite right. Anyone?
keywords: pink, white, flowers, wild, wildflowers, nature, delicate, stem, leaf, green, bokeh, almaden, quicksilver, mines, park, santa clara county, san jose, california, usa, plant, hiking, trail, stock
Purple Wildflowers. Grant Ranch County Park, California. April 20, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Spring purple wildflowers photographed in the grasslands of Grant Ranch County Park east of San Jose, California.
I’m told that these are Vicia villosa or winter vetch. All I know for certain is that the hillside was covered with these beautiful small flowers, and that I had to get down very low on the ground to photograph them. :-)
For those interested in photo equipment issues, this photo is evidence, I think, that you can get decent out of focus background bokeh from the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L.
keywords: purple, wildflowers, wild, flowers, grant ranch, santa clara, county, park, joseph, green, leaf, grass, stem, bloom, blossom, spring, nature, stock, california, usa, photo, photography, Vicia villosa, winter vetch