Tag Archives: usa

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

White Globe Lily, Spring Green

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Chinese Lantern, Spring Green
A solitary white globe lily blossom against a background of spring green

White Globe Lily, Spring Green. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary white globe lily blossom against a background of spring green.

As much as I love traveling to more distant and even exotic locations to make photographs, I often photograph right in my (more or less) back yard. If you follow me, you know that I photograph urban and industrial subjects all around the San Francisco Bay Area, but I also photograph some very nearby natural areas. This photograph, and a few others that will follow before long, was made in a place I’ve been visiting for decades, and it is only a very short drive from my home.

I know the spot where I photographed this flower very well. In fact, every spring I go to this little canyon to renew my acquaintance with a group of spring wildflowers found there. At this point, I know exactly what flowers I’ll find around precisely which bend in the trail. One of my favorites here is the white globe lily flower, a lovely and subtly-colored bulbous wildflower that grows at the end of slender graceful shoots. I didn’t see any the first time I visited this season, but on this visit I found a few blossoms and even more bud that should open a week or so later

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Desert Mallow Blossoms

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Desert Mallow Blossoms
Orange desert mallow blossoms, Death Valley National Park

Desert Mallow Blossoms. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Orange desert mallow blossoms, Death Valley National Park.

These orange desert mallows are among my favorite desert flowers. It seems to me that they are often somewhat unobtrusive, but the will suddenly burst forth with a bush-full of bright orange color. The blooms are lovely, and they remind me a bit of small California golden poppies.

Although I sometimes don’t recall exactly where I photographed such things, my recollection in this case is that I photographed them in a quiet desert canyon starting at the top of a large alluvial fan, where we had gone to eat lunch the first day we arrived in Death Valley on our early April visit. After hours of driving (actually a couple of days of traveling!) it was good to stop and sit in a quiet place. As we ate we looked around the canyon a bit and started to pick out likely photographic subjects, though there was no hurry to get to work. Eventually we wandered over toward the edge of the canyon where some interesting-looking plants were growing, among them a mallow bush.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Layered Rock Face

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Layered Rock Face
Rock layers lie exposed on a cliff in a quiet desert canyon.

Layered Rock Face. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rock layers lie exposed on a cliff in a quiet desert canyon.

On this trip we arrived in Death Valley in the late morning. Midday in the desert is not necessarily a great time to be out in the open, especially on a windy day like this one, so I often head for canyons to find better light and shelter. We took a side road into a quite canyon that doesn’t get a lot of visitors, mainly with the idea of finding a sheltered place to eat lunch and rest a bit after our drive.

We relaxed and finished lunch, and then began to pay more attention to nearby photographic opportunities. Up the canyon was an incredibly barren and rugged landscape, but nearly there were smaller features that seemed quite attractive. We found some canyon plants that were blooming, so we spent some time photographing wildflowers. Across the narrow canyon from our position was this bit of fascinating canyon wall, where old sedimentary layers had been uplifted and then eroded away to created this terraced effect.

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.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Sand Storm, Sunset Virga

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Sand Storm, Sunset Virga
Virga drops from sunset clouds above a desert sand storm

Sand Storm, Sunset Virga. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Virga drops from sunset clouds above a desert sand storm.

This photograph represents Death Valley as a place of “apocalyptic beauty.” Most of the time this landscape is quiet, and the predominant impressions it makes on me are about stillness and immense space. But it can also produce incredibly dynamic, powerful, and even intimidating conditions, sometimes without a whole lot of prior notice.

This scene is a conjunction of three conditions that I’ve only experienced together a few times there. A weather front was moving through and trying to drop rain on the landscape — here the clouds are releasing virga, curtains of rainfall that don’t make it to the ground. Extreme winds from the southwest were whipping up a sand storm that was rising into the Amargosa Mountains to the east of the valley. (I was standing in tremendous winds and blowing sand when I made this photograph.) Then all of this came together with a brief moment of sunset light as the rain was clearing from the west to leave an open sky in the direction of the setting sun.

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.