Tag Archives: trees

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Forest, Fog, Soft Light

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Forest, Fog, Soft Light
“Forest, Fog, Soft Light” — Soft morning light filtered through coastal fog on a forested hillside near the California coast.

It isn’t news that California and the West have been suffering under an extreme and long-lasting heat wave. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area it has been bad — though clearly it is much worse in other locations. This week I finally had enough, and I drove over the hills to the coast early in the morning to seek out fog. I found it! In fact, it was so thick on the coast (where the temperature was a blessed 55 degrees) that it interfered with my intended photography. So I followed side roads that took me inland to the edge of the fog, where soft light was starting to illuminate the landscape.

By most measures, this is a rather nondescript location. (I actually parked in from of a CalFire Station.) But across the small valley, trees led up the hillside, catching the soft light that was just barely penetrating the fog. There’s an additional detail here: A large wildfire swept through a few years back, denuding the landscape in many places. These trees at the bottom of the valley were spared, but you can see skeleton of dead trees on top of the ridge.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

New Town, Edinburgh

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New Town, Edinburgh
“New Town, Edinburgh” — The New Town area of Edinburgh, viewed from the Edinburgh Castle.

This photograph overlooks the section of Edinburgh, Scotland known as “New Town.” To an American visitor, who might think a town is “old” if it has been around for a couple of centuries, it might be surprising to find out that New Town arose (next to the much older Old Town) roughly 250 years ago. In places with such deep history, 250 years is not that long! New Town features a lot of fascinating Neo-Classical and Georgian architecture and, in fact, it does seem a lot newer than the “Old Town” near Edinburgh Castle.

Speaking of the Castle, that is my camera position for this photograph — the foreground structures are part of it. The castle is on the top of an imposing ridge and its summit provides expansive views. Here we look across New Town to the shores of the Firth of Forth and then to more distant areas of Scotland across the water.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Forest and Loch

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Forest and Loch
“Forest and Loch” — Forest scene above Loch Lochy on the Great Glen Way, Scotland.

Scotland’s Great Glen Way runs between Fort William in the south and Inverness in the north, roughly following the route of the Caledonian Canal connecting a series of “lochs,” or long lakes. To generalize, the route takes walkers (and some cyclists) through several kinds of terrain — along the shoreline of the lochs, on level paths next to the canal, past agricultural areas, through hillside forests, and occasionally to the highlands country. Almost everywhere, with the partial exception of the highlands, everything is green… as in this photograph of a hillside forest, one of the lochs, and distant mountains.

The body of water is Loch Lochy, one of the three lochs on the route. (The others are the smaller Loch Oich and the huge Loch Ness.) There would normally a route closer to its shoreline, but trail work took us up into the mountains on this day, and through many forested sections like this one. The Scottish forests are dense and very green, but they are also managed for forestry. It isn’t unusual to be walking through thick woods and suddenly come upon heavy logging equipment and hillsides denuded of trees. The foreground in this picture is one such area after some years of regrowth.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Forest Above Loch Ness

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Forest Above Loch Ness
“Forest Above Loch Ness — “Forest with green moss along the Great Glen Way above Loch Ness, Scotland.

This photograph comes from the second-to-last day of our walk on Scotland’s Great Glen Way . Every day was different, but this one stood out in several ways. First of all, we hiked it “backwards.” On every other day we hiked toward our destination of Inverness. But this time we were dropped off north of Lewiston, where we were staying, and we walked back toward town. A few miles into the walk we encountered our most exposed highland terrain as we crossed a high, windy ridge and then descended to re-enter forest.

This spot along that descent was a lovely surprise. Much of the forest land we had walked through was dense with trees, blocking the light and cutting off distant views. But on this bench high above Loch Ness we found this open and softly lit section of forest carpeted with green moss. Through the trees and far below we could see Loch Ness.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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