Tag Archives: white

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Dogwood Tree

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Dogwood Tree
A dogwood tree in full spr9ing bloom.

Dogwood Tree. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A dogwood tree in full spring bloom.

This dogwood tree was a complete surprise to us. We had gone to this San Francisco Bay Area location to enjoy an evening event and then stroll the large gardens. We knew there were dogwood trees at this place because we had photographed them elsewhere on the grounds. But we thought that the dogwood show had ended, and in fact there were almost no flowers left on the trees we knew about. But here was this remarkable specimen with thick beautiful flowers tinged with color.

It is funny sometimes to recognize how my preconceptions change with experience. This year that happened with dogwood trees. “My dogwoods” are the trees in Yosemite Valley and along some of the approaches to the park. I’ve photographed them every year for a long time, and it barely crossed my mind that there might be dogwood trees elsewhere or that there might be other types. My first strong hint this spring was on a rainy weekend in Manhattan, of all places, where I found beautiful blooming dogwoods in Central Park. The next surprise was this tree, perhaps thicker with flowers than any I have seen before.

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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Beneath the Blooming Dogwood

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Beneath the Blooming Dogwood
Light glows through the blossoms and leaves of a spring dogwood tree.

Beneath the Blooming Dogwood. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Looking upwards toward dense spring dogwood flowers.

Over a month ago I shared a photograph of a blooming dogwood tree in Manhattan’s Central Park. In that post I alluded to the fact that this was not likely to be quite my typical year for photographing this kind of tree. Typically I would make a spring visit to Yosemite Valley and other nearby areas to photograph this annual event, but it looked like I wouldn’t this time. But surprises arrive, and a few weeks later I did find myself in Yosemite with camera next to flowering dogwoods. But the surprises weren’t over, and later I photographed these blossoms in a San Francisco Bay Area location.

There’s a beautiful public garden on the San Francisco Peninsula where we go regularly to photograph. We started much earlier this season, and we had seen dogwood trees there — though I didn’t photograph them much. We went back much later, at the end of spring, and we were surprised to find new dogwood blooms in this place where we had thought they were spent.

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 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.

Photographs: Nature

Three Foxglove Flowers

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Three Foxglove Flowers
Three white foxglove flowers hanging from a branch in shade.

Three Foxglove Flowers. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three white foxglove flowers hanging from a branch in shade.

Most of the time when I photograph foxglove flowers I tend to work with the vertical stalks of very colorful flowers, and I try to use a point of view that lets us look into the individual flowers. For one thing, there are often some fascinating patters inside the blossoms. But this time I decided to go in a different direction with this photograph of flowers hanging from a horizontal stalk.

The flowers were growing in a shady area and it was early evening, so I had very soft light to work with. By shooting across the hanging flowers I was able to put three of them in the frame but also include some background flowers behind them. And somehow the monophonic interpretation seems right in this case.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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.

Photographs: Nature

Columbine Flower

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Columbine Flower
A columbine flower, photographed in soft light at a San Francisco Bay Area garden.

Columbine Flower. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A columbine flower, photographed in soft light at a San Francisco Bay Area garden.

In another recent post featuring a Columbine flower (in that case a purple and white version) I mentioned my first awareness of this type of flower. It came decades ago on Sierra backpack trips when I saw a version of the flower up high in alpine country. The incongruity of a delicate white flower in such a place formed my ideas about it. That cemented my (not entirely correct) notion that thee columbine is an alpine flower and that it is always white.

The flower in this photograph is white, but I found it at a distinctly non-alpine location in the San Francisco Bay Area — a large public garden on the San Francisco Peninsula. We had gone there for a summer event featuring drinks and food al fresco in this setting of grasslands and woods, but we did bring our cameras and planned on spending some time photographing the spring flowers.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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