Tag Archives: stem

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dogwood Tree in Bloom, Detail

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Dogwood Tree in Bloom, Detail

Dogwood Tree in Bloom, Detail. Yosemite Valley, California. May 9, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light filters through the branches of a blooming dogwood tree, Yosemite Valley.

The dogwood trees were blooming all over Yosemite Valley when I was there on May 9. (Unfortunately, the place was swarming with other park visitors as well, but that is a story for another time.) After entering the Valley very early on a Saturday morning I decided to head across to Northside Drive and photograph trees in El Capitan Meadow, one of my favorite photography locations. After finishing up there I thought I’d head back up into the Valley which, with the one-way road layout there, required me to first drive back down the Valley to cross over to Southside Drive. On the way the route passes the famous and iconic "Gates of the Valley" site – and I can hardly ever resist at least a brief stop there. I stopped, got out, and reassured myself that this was not the time to shoot this scene. (I’ll photograph it, but only if the conditions are very, very special.) However, across the road and a bit to the west I spotted several big dogwood trees in full bloom… and in soft partial sun created by the shadows from taller trees nearby. Usually I am not looking for dogwood blossoms so late in the morning, but these looked interesting – I ended up spending some time shooting them from underneath and trying to capture the backlit translucent blooms.

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

keywords: dogwood, tree, leaf, flower, bracht, bloom, blossom, petal, twig, branch, sky, blue, stem, season, spring, new, california, usa, sierra nevada, travel, Yosemite, valley, national park, nature, foliage, travel, scenic, stock, light, filter, bokeh

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Spring Lupine Blossoms, Point Lobos

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Spring Lupine Blossoms, Point Lobos

Spring Lupine Blossoms, Point Lobos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. April 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring lupine flowers blossom at punta de los lobos marinos, Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

The weather was quite foggy at Point Lobos when I photographed these blooming lupine plants along the bluffs near the punta de los lobos marinos in late April. This is actually very interesting light for wildflower photography because diffused light decreases the harsh highlights and brings out a bit more detail in the shadows, even though color balance can be a bit tricky. There were several big clusters of tall lupine plants along this bluff, and I picked one and spent some time photographing it. While sometimes the problem can be finding enough good flowers to get a shot, here the problem more or less the opposite – the flowers were so thick that it was hard to compose a shot that let the foreground flowers stand out a bit from the background!

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

keywords: point, lobos, california, usa, spring, monterey, peninsula, carmel, coast, pacific, state, reserve, park, nature, lupine, wildflower, flower, foliage, plant, blossom, bloom, lupine, leaf, nature, scenic, stem, petal, cluster, season, color, stock, yellow, pink, white, purple

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Rattlesnake Grass, Spring

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Rattlesnake Grass, Spring

Rattlesnake Grass, Spring. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. April 26. 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Seed heads, stems, and blades of Rattlesnake grass growing in the pine forest at Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

On the last weekend of April I found time to head down to Point Lobos for a half day – that ultimately stretched a bit longer that that – day of shooting. I almost didn’t go. I had the radio on as I drove toward Monterey, and as I drove through Castroville a traffic report announced that Highway 1 was closed for a marathon south of Carmel – a couple miles before Point Lobos. I almost turned around right there, but then they announced that the highway patrol would “convoy” cars through the area about once every two hours. I decided that since I was almost there anyway I might as well go on down and see what would happen. When I arrived at the intersection south of Carmel the road was completely blocked and traffic was shunted into the nearby shopping center parking lot. I saw a sign for “convoy” parking so I drove over – and it turned out that I had about a half hour before the scheduled southbound departure. I had time to grab a cup of coffee and line up.

The convoy finally worked its way onto the “course” (otherwise known as the coast highway) and then slowly started south past hundred or thousands of runners. At Point Lobos I was the only drive to leave the convoy, and when I entered the park the ranger told me I was only the second car to enter that day! If you have visited Point Lobos you may know that on a typical spring day the place will be so packed that it can be hard to find a spot to park – but I did not run into a single person in the whole park until early afternoon! (I did see one other visitor in the distance.) So what started out to look like very bad timing ended up being quite special – I had “my own private Point Lobos” for the day!

In the early afternoon I decided to walk a trail through the pines that traveled away from the shoreline. Lots of lush spring growth was still flourishing and these grass seeds caught my attention.

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

keywords: Briza maxima, rattlesnake grass, seed, leaf, stem, blade, head, plant, forest, floor, foliage, flora, point lobos, state, reserve, park, california, usa, monterey, peninsula, carmel, coast, pine, forest, grove, nature, stock

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Andrew’s Clintonia

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Andrew's Clintonia

Andrew’s Clintonia. Muir Woods National Monument, California. April 11, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Newly emerging spring Andrew’s Clintonia (Clintonia andrewsiana) plant at Muir Woods National Monument, California with immature flowers.

I hope I have correctly identified this plant – with the help of a few people who contacted me after I posted the photo along with a request for plant ID help on my dan’s outside blog. The flowers are the tricky part. All of the photographs of this plant that I could find during my search for identification look different – but the plant apparently doesn’t actually blossom until a few weeks or a month after I made the photograph, so here we’re just seeing the early buds. The leaves look right. It grows in the right place – in the redwood forest and Muir Woods. And I found one online example with mature flowers that has the same single leaf near the top of the flower stalk. So I’s sticking with Andrew’s clintonia until someone comes up with a better idea!

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

keywords: Andrew’s Clintonia, Clintonia andrewsiana, andrews, flower, plant, stem, leaf, green, stalk, forest, woods, grove, redwood, floor, bud, bloom, nature, foliage, spring, muir, national, monument, park, golden gate, recreation, area, travel, scenic, stock