Tag Archives: usa

Redwood Forest Plants

Redwood Forest Plants
“Redwood Forest Plants” — Detail of plants growing on the redwood forest floor.

We are perhaps spoiled somewhat here in my part of California. We take redwood forests for granted — both the coastal trees and the sequoias found in a few areas of the Sierra. Because I’ve been around these trees almost all my life, I forget sometimes how remarkable they are. Ironically, it is frequently while traveling to other places where forest trees are not of such gigantic size that I realize how shocking their scale can be.

At the same time, familiarly helps me look past the trees themselves and see smaller things that might be overlooked by a person walking through these forests with neck craned upwards in marvel. There is actually a lot taking place right down on the ground, especially during the wet season. I made this photograph one march in redwoods just north of San Francisco.


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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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The Back Door

The Back Door
The rear entrance to a local market.

The Back Door. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The rear entrance to a local market.

So, can we imagine that this is the, uh, “urban wilderness?” It does contains some relatively very wild areas, and there is wildlife of a sort. If you look around carefully enough at the right time you can find a degree of solitude.

This is a back entrance to a grocery store, photographed across a deserted parking lot. Someone has abandoned their cart next to the door, perhaps expecting the store employees to discover it there and reclaim it.


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

Urban Scene from Pandemia

Urban Scene from Pandemia
Vehicles and an old house in Pendemia

Urban Scene from Pandemia. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Vehicles and an old house in Pendemia.

Our world, and welcome to it. For the great majority of us, normal activities have been put on hold, including our regular trips into the natural landscape to make photographs. Some possibilities are opening back up — I’m hoping to visit redwoods and the coast before too much longer. But as case numbers tick back up, it becomes clearer that we are not going back to “normal” for a while.

So I walk. All over my local neighborhood, generally in perhaps a two or tow-and-a-half mile radius. One thing I can be grateful for — though probably not the only thing — is that I’m “discovering” neighborhoods and features within walking distance that I would not otherwise have seen.


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 | FacebookEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers
Spring flowers in the hills of Central California.

Spring Flowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring flowers in the hills of Central California.

Back in 2019 we had quite an impressive spring wildflower season in most of California. The quality and number of flowers is extremely precipitation dependent in California — and depending upon the moisture levels we can see a ho-hum season or something the bursts forth is spectacular form, covering hillsides with carpets of color.

I made this photograph in one of those “carpeted” places. We arrived here at the peak color of a peak season, and the number and variety of flowers were astonishing.


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 | FacebookEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.


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