Tag Archives: trail

Photographs: Central California

Calero Trail, Spring

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Calero Trail, Spring
Calero Trail, Spring. Calero Hills, California. March 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A spring morning on a hillside trail through oak grassland of the Calero Hills in central California. This is representative of the start of what I call “the impossibly green” season in central California when for perhaps a month the grasses, trees, and wildflowers go absolutely wild following the winter rains.

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Photographs: Night, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Moonlit Cove, Thousand Island Lake

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Moonlit Cove, Thousand Island Lake

Moonlit Cove, Thousand Island Lake. Ansel Adams Wilderness, California. July 27, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I spent a few hours on this cold, clear July evening photographing the light of the full moon, star trails, and reflections on the surface of Thousand Island Lake.

When using a digital camera to make such long exposures one must adopt a very patient attitude. First, find the spot for your photograph and set everything up in the dark. Then make an exposure of perhaps 15 minutes. Because DSLRs are subject to noise on these long exposures, you then wait another 15 minutes while the camera completes a “dark frame” exposure to determine how to compensate for the noise in the original exposure. Yes, it takes 30 minutes (and lots of battery power!) to make a 15 minute exposure.

You could become impatient. Or you could, as I do, sit back and enjoy the peace and quite of a beautiful moonlit Sierra night.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Ghost Forest, Near Tawny Point

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Ghost Forest, Near Tawny Point
Ghost Forest, Near Tawny Point. John Muir Trail, Sequoia National Park, California. August 9, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Black and white photograph of a high altitude “ghost forest” on the John Muir Trail near Tawny Point, Sequoia National Park. These dead trees are located right at timberline in the southern Sierra Nevada at an altitude of close to 12,000′. It appears that an older forest died and that a new one is in its infancy.

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Photographs: Central California

Oak Grove Trail in Winter Fog

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Oak Grove Trail in Winter Fog
Oak Grove Trail in Winter Fog. Central Californina. December 10, 2004. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

An older photograph shot on a wonderful foggy winter day along an unused trail that climbs a beautiful ridge covered with oak trees and grassland in a hillside park near San Jose, California.

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