Tag Archives: tree

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Small Tree, Granite, Morning Sun

December 3, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small pine finds a foothold in a small crack on an immense glacier-sculpted granite slab, Yosemite National Park

This photograph is connected to quite a few others that I have posted recently, and in multiple ways. One of the subjects that I focused on during our time photographing at this Yosemite backcountry location was the many small trees growing tenuously in small cracks and pockets in this large bowl of granite and among nearby granite slabs. It seems almost a rule that in the natural world something will manage to find a way to grow in almost any location where growth is remotely possible. These trees certainly seem to illustrate that idea, as they sometimes seem to have nothing more than a thin crack in otherwise solid granite in which to put down roots. This one grows part way up the incline of a sloping bowl that faces west, so the morning light doesn’t arrive until rather late. I photographed as the line of sunlight worked its way across the tree and toward the textured slabs beyond.

I have heard a photographer friend humorously refer to photographs like this as “brave little tree” shots. It certainly is a popular concept. While I often like to think that photographs may speak simply as images whose components of light and texture and shape and color evoke an emotional response, it doesn’t escape my notice that photographs also, partially through the expectation that photographs contain true images of things, may also resonate in other ways — and that a “brave little tree” may evoke connections to other “brave little” things and ideas, and that these associations may be personal and specific to each viewer.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature

Ginkgo Leaves, Stones

December 2, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ginko Leaves, Stones — Ginkgo Leaves, Stones

Autumn ginkgo leaves among stones

My friend — and excellent photographer — David Hoffman occasionally takes things to extremes. Recently there has been a Facebook meme that has photographers challenging another to post five days of black and white photographs. Dave managed to stretch his “five” photographs out to about a dozen, if memory serves. As sometimes happens with these “challenges,” he received at least one more duplicate challenge after finishing his five-becomes-12 postings. Not shirking from the challenge, he accepted and then went on to start posting new black and white every day until Christmas! I’m not sure I’m going to do that, but I thought that I’d keep the black and white theme going for a while.

This is a photograph of what was a very colorful subject — very yellow fallen autumn ginkgo tree leaves resting among stones in the blue light of shade. I could present a color rendition of that subject, but It seemed like black and white work, too — even though the idea of giving up the fall color for monochrome is a bit counterintuitive. Because the location of the photograph and, frankly, the circumstances of taking it are so unremarkable, I’m not going to tell that story. Yet.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn Cottonwood, Red Rock Strata

November 29, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn cottonwood tree foliage backed by red rock strata

Yes, this is just a very colorful tree! We headed out early on this morning, not quite certain what we would photograph, but thinking that it would involve early morning light and not be too far from the Fruita campground at Capitol Reef National Park. We had some thoughts about perhaps photographing in a canyon, but since that is more of an activity for later, when the sun is higher, we did not start with that.

It was a cloudy morning, though initially — if my memory serves — it was the “interesting” sort of cloudiness that allows some sun to poke through the clouds and produce interesting and variable light. However, before long a large deck of high clouds moved in and killed that light. It was time to reevaluate our plans! Soft light can be fine light for some purposes. It may not always have the drama of early morning, low angle sunlit and broken clouds, but it can produce beautiful colors and bring light into what might otherwise be very dark shadows. We headed west from the Fruita district, eventually stopping for a variety of subjects, but this big, beautiful cottonwood tree standing against the slanting sandstone strata was hard to pass up.

Photographs: Arizona, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest

Aspen Trees, Kaibab Plateau

November 26, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Nearly bare autumn aspen trees on the Kaibab Plateau near Grand Canyon National Park

This story is partially about how I finally got to Grand Canyon National Park… sort of. Believe it or not, I had never visited this iconic national park of the American West. There are a perhaps surprising number of parks that I have not visited, perhaps because I’ve long been quite happy to go straight back to my Sierra Nevada whenever I had time to travel, at least since I was a kid. There is also my long-time failure to get to the Southwest, which I have written about before. In any case, I had failed to see this park — aside from through an airplane window at 35,000′ — at all… until this year.

I had arrived in Kanab, Utah late in the day. After checking into a motel I was considering things to do on an evening that didn’t look overly spectacular from a photographic perspective. As I looked at maps I realized that this area is a sort of gateway to the North Rim of Grand Canyon. (I really don’t do a lot of research before heading out to shoot!) Checking a bit more I saw that the road south from Kana could take me up to the North Rim. I had heard of that place. ;-) So, late in the afternoon I started driving, half expecting that I might not make it before dark, but I had no better plan. The road generally rises at it heads south, and before long I was in a beautiful area of high forests that believe is the Kaibab Plateau. Although it seemed to late in the season, before long I saw that among the many bare aspen trees there were still a few with leaves, so I started watching for them. I saw this grove near the end of a meadow and couldn’t help but stop and make a photographs in the evening light. I soon realized that I didn’t have a lot of time to spare, so I got back on the road and continued south, arriving at the rim of the canyon at dusk to find that most facilities were closed for the season and there were few people about. Yes, I could tell that there is a very big canyon there! No, there wasn’t enough light left to really photograph it. I walked along the rim for a few minutes, pondered briefly, returned to my car and headed back to Kanab. At least I can no longer be accused of never having visited The Grand Canyon!

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: tree

Small Tree, Granite, Morning Sun

Ginkgo Leaves, Stones

Autumn Cottonwood, Red Rock Strata

Aspen Trees, Kaibab Plateau

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.