Tag Archives: tree

Redwood Trees and Ferns

Redwood Trees and Ferns

Redwood Trees and Ferns. Muir Woods National Monument, California. August 19, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of closely-spaced redwood trees grows above ground-hugging ferns with green trees behind, Muir Woods National Monument, California.

In mid-August I visited Muir Woods (only a 90 minute drive from my home) to drop off some photographs and spend some time making new ones. I always arrive there very early – the crowds are otherwise overwhelming, especially in the summer – and when I got there almost no one else had yet entered the park. Because it was a morning with high fog, I was looking forward to shooting plants in the diffuse light that creates such wonderful saturated colors.

I wandered up and around the usual short loop that would be very busy in a few hours, but there were only a few other people there. Near the end of my wandering, as I was almost ready to exit, the fog began to thin just a bit and as I passed this group of trees there was enough light to better define their forms and texture.

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.

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keywords: redwood, sequoia, sempervirens, coast, giant, tree, forest, grove, muir, woods, national, monument, golden, gate, recreation, area, park, tall, vertical, trunk, burn, scar, fern, flora, laurel, bark, texture, branch, morning, light, filtered, fog, san francisco, california, usa, scenic, travel, landscape, nature, natural, growth, lush, stock

Urban Runner and Tree

Urban Runner and Tree

Urban Runner and Tree. San Francisco, California. August 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A person runs past an urban tree and a building with steps, San Francisco, California.

This sequence – there are several other photographs with people walking past this building – started one way and ended up going in a different direction. Initially I was thinking of an “urban landscape” photograph with the natural shape of this sidewalk tree contrasting with the flat surface of the wall, and the rigid lines of the sidewalk/curb and the windows, fences, and stairway. However, as I shot people occasionally walked through the scene and it seemed more interesting with a figure than without. Then, because it was very early morning and quite foggy, I had to shoot at rather slow shutter speeds – too slow to capture distinct images of the people without motion blur.

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.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, urban, city, runner, run, parking, meter, sidewalk, curb, street, urban, tree, trunk, branch, leaves, steps, gate, wall, window, reflection, parking, downtown, blur

Tree and Windows

Tree and Windows

Tree and Windows. San Francisco, California. August 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bare branches of an urban tree with a few green leaves against a gray San Francisco building with white-framed windows.

I had the chance to spend a morning and part of an afternoon wandering around San Francisco on foot on the mid-August day. As I usually do, I took a 6:00 a.m. train to The City, arriving at about 7:00 a.m. This time I started out by walking up Fourth Street past Yerba Buena Gardens and continued on to Market Street. From there I walked though Chinatown (but mostly not on Grant) before the tourist shops opened and while the many grocery stores were dealing with huge shipments of produce dropped off on the sidewalks. I stopped briefly in North Beach for coffee before spending an hour or so shooting there and then taking a very quick walk past the madness at Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf before climbing up to Russian Hill before making it back to my return train. Whew!

I happened to notice a block full of these interesting trees in North Beach, not too far from Washington Park – and I especially liked this one with a tiny bit of green and backed by the black, white, and gray building.

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.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, urban, city, street, north beach, travel, scenic, downtown, building, home, tree, trunk, branch, bare, gray, green, leaves, window, white, frame, gray, wall, blinds, silhouette, landscape, light, fork, black, stock

Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest

Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest

Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest. Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park, California. July 11, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lodgepole pines stand at the edge of the forest next to Tioga Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California.

I have photographed these trees before. They are found at the edge of the meadow along the left side of the road after you leave the forest near the Mono Trail parking lot and enter the meadow at Tioga Pass and approach the entrance station. Several things intrigue me about the trees in this area: they mark the edge of dense forest into which it is difficult to see, few people stop to look at them, they border the meadows, and they sometimes are illuminated late in the day by light reflecting from Mount Dana’s lower slopes to the east.

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.

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keywords: pine, lodgepole, tamarack, tree, forest, grove, trunk, branch, needle, meadow, tioga, alpine, thick, dense, grass, flora, pass, road, yosemite, national park, california, usa, sierra, nevada, range, mountains, summit, crest, landscape, nature, travel, scenic, stock, green, edge, dark