Tag Archives: travel

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Trillium, Flower and Stem

Leave a comment
Trillium, Flower and Stem

Trillium, Flower and Stem. Muir Woods National Monument, California. March 8, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A single trillium flower and leaves atop its slender stem in the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I think I hit the peak of the “trillium season” when I visited Muir Woods near the beginning of March on a cloudy and damp late winter day on which the sun only occasionally broke through to light the forest floor. I probably spent an hour and a half photographing these flowers along a little section of trail that would usually take perhaps 10 minutes to hike – the flowers were everywhere. Some, like this one, were growing alone, while in other places there were small gardens of trillium flowers.

It may seem odd, but many of these close-ups of flowers were made using a 70-200mm zoom on a full-frame camera – no close-up lenses, no macro lens, and no close-up “filters.” The longer lens lets me work from a greater distance, simplifying tripod placement a lot, and also giving me a lot more flexibility in terms of composition. If there is are downsides to this approach they might include the potential for very narrow depth of field and the need to pay extra attention to camera stability. I used the “live view” feature to focus on many of these flowers. If the usual autofocus feature works I’ll use it, but sometimes it can be hard to get clean focus on these subjects. “Live view” on the Canon EOS 5D II raises the mirror and displays the image on the rear LCD. While the standard projected image can be useful for composition, it is not detailed enough for focusing. However, you can select a 10X zoom setting and see a very large and detailed image of the subject, and in this way you can do very precise manual focusing on any point in the frame.

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: muir; woods; national; monument; park; marin county; nature; california; usa; winter; trillium; flower; blossom; white; yellow; leaf; stem; plant; foliage; forest; redwood; nature; spring; bokeh; travel; scenic; marin county; stock; bloom, golden gate, recreation

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Trillium, Sorrel, and Ferns – Redwood Forest

Leave a comment
Trillium, Sorrel, and Ferns - Redwood Forest

Trillium, Sorrel, and Ferns – Redwood Forest. Muir Woods National Monument, California. March 21, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring trillium, redwood sorrel (Oregon oxalis), and ferns grow beneath the redwood trees at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

This past Saturday I visited Muir Woods National Monument – again! – to photograph the ongoing arrival of spring growth in the redwood forest. Following a few weeks of welcome rain and the recent start of spring, the plant life in the redwood forest is exploding everywhere. Here a lush patch of trillium, redwood sorrel (Oregon oxalis), and ferns grows right next to one of the main trails through the groves.

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: muir, woods, national, monument, park, recreation area, golden gate, california, usa, marin county, forest, grove, redwood, floor, foliage, plants, nature, trillium, leaves, sorrell, oregon, oxalis, fern, needles, flower, blossom, twig, green, scenic, travel, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: San Francisco

Alcatraz and San Francisco Bay, Morning Light

1 Comment
Alcatraz and San Francisco Bay, Morning Light

Alcatraz and San Francisco Bay, Morning Light. San Francisco, California. March 21, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early mornng sun breaks through clouds over San Francisco Bay and illuminates the water to silhouette Alcatraz Island.

This weekend I visited Muir Woods again. I was on the road early enough to arrive at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge by dawn. Even if I am headed somewhere else, I almost always stop at the north end to see what sort of light is shining on the City and the bay – and this morning low clouds from an incoming weather system were sweeping across the bay as sunlight broke through intermittently to light the water on the bay. Before heading on to Muir Woods I made a series of photographs of this light, including this one of Alcatraz.

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: san francisco, bay, california, usa, water, alcatraz, island, prison, park, historic, oakland, treasure island, bridge, golden, light, clouds, beams, silhouette, tower, building, travel, historic, area, storm, birds, landscape, scenic, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Oregon Oxalis

Leave a comment
Oregon Oxalis

Oregon Oxalis. Muir Woods National Monument, California. February 28, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bright leaves of Oregon oxalis carpet the forest floor under the redwood trees at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I suppose this might more accurately be titled “More Oregon Oxalis” since I posted similar photograph in landscape orientation earlier. When I make a photograph like this one I often try to get versions in both portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) orientation – partly because I think the subject looks interesting both way and partly for more practical reasons. By the way, I understand that the plant is also known as “redwood sorrell.”

Earlier today someone posted a comment on another of my photographs of this subject and pointed out that the plant also produces very pretty little pink flowers. I think they were just beginning to appear when I shot this – I saw a few of them, and a bud is barely visible near the center of this photo. I may return to Muir Woods soon, and the next time I’ll keep an eye out specifically for the flowers.

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: muir, woods, national, monument, park, marin, forest, nature, california, usa, oxalis, oregon, oreganas, redwood, tree, sorrell, bright, leaf, leaves, carpet, floor, marin county, water, drop, rain, dew, morning, foliage, nature, scenic, travel, trail, hike, stock, green, clover