Tag Archives: travel

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Wildflowers, Hills, And Fence

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Wildflowers, Hills, And Fence
A fence runs across wildflower-covered hills in the Temblor Range

Wildflowers, Hills, And Fence. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fence runs across wildflower-covered hills in the Temblor Range.

With this photograph I am getting very close to the end of this year’s spring landscapes — but you never can tell. Overall this was a very good spring, at least for those of us in California who look forward to the late winter green and the wildflower displays that follow. Our wet season is almost entirely in the winter — California has been described as a summer desert — and we pay a lot of attention to how each winter plays out. This is especially true in the wake of a recent five-year drought. This season started slowly, and early on we were concerned that we might have another dry year. But the faucet came on full force early in 2019, and it has continued raining until very recently.

This photograph is an example of what can happen when the weather gods cooperate and the rains come. This area of California hills looks dry and brown most of the year. But in exceptionally good wet years abundant displays of wildflowers appear and may literally carpet the hills and pastures. I made this photograph in the evening, as the last light (indirect though it may have been) was producing a softer effect in these hills along the edge of the San Andreas fault.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature

Triteleia Flowers And Buds

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Triteleia Flowers And Buds
A burst of triteleia (“pretty face”) flowers and buds, Pinnacles National Park

Triteleia Flowers And Buds. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A burst of triteleia (“pretty face”) flowers and buds, Pinnacles National Park.

I am certainly far from being an expert on wildflowers. As those who know me are aware, when it comes to recalling the names of plants (flowers, bushes, trees) the identities simply don’t “stick” for me — they never have, and it hasn’t gotten better. I know a few by name, but most I know only by appearance, location, and season. This flower was a new one to me, and I had to look it up after returning home.

I found these triteleia flowers in a small canyon at Pinnacles National Park. They, and many other seasonal wildflowers, were growing along a shaded section of canyon wall as I passed by on a walk to a more distant place… so I paused and spent and hour or so photographing 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 and Amazon.

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

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

Photographs: Nature

Triteleia Flowers

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Triteleia Flowers
Triteleia (“pretty face”) wildflowers, Pinnacles National Park

Triteleia Flowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Triteleia (“pretty face”) wildflowers, Pinnacles National Park.

I encountered this lovely batch of flowers on a long day-hike at Pinnacles National Park in mid-April. I arrived in the early morning on this spring day, when wildflowers were still going strong, and headed up a familiar trail to a reservoir. (For those who know the place, I avoided the route through the cave. Been there, done that… and I was caring a pack full of camera equipment and a tripod.)

The route I followed began by heading up the bottom of a small valley that sometimes has more of the character of a canyon, with steep walls that limit how much sunshine gets into there. Apparently this flower likes that, preferring canyons that offer some shade. While I usually do notice the larger wildflowers while hiking, I’m not necessarily one to see all of the colorful things growing here in the spring… but carrying a camera with a macro lens encourages me to pay more attention!

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 and Amazon.

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

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Sunrise, Fog And Mist, Spring HIlls

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Sunrise, Fog And Mist, Spring HIlls, Carrizo Plain National Monument
“Sunrise, Fog And Mist, Spring HIlls” — Dawn fog and mist over green springtime California hills

I return to this theme frequently, but the annual spring transformation of California’s grasslands is a remarkable thing. It is also something that many visitors to the state miss. Many people come during the supposedly prime vacation season, probably between about Memorial Day in late May and Labor Day in early September. If they travel around the state much they are often impressed by how dry the place looks. They are correct — much of California is essentially arid during the warmer months, and the grasslands turn brown or, more poetically, “golden.”

However, in this regard our seasons are reversed by comparison to the snowier parts of the country, where winter is the colorless season. Our winter is the time of the Great Greening, or what I refer to as the Impossibly Green season. Shortly after winter (or late-autumn) rains arrive grasses emerge and grow straight through the winter. The intensity of the color of the green hills can become quite remarkable by late March and April. I made this photograph in a place that would strike most visitors as being a desert during most of the year. But on this morning all was green, with patches of wildflowers, and fog and mist floating above the beautiful hills at dawn.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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