Tag Archives: woods

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods (Black and White)

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Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods (Black and White)
Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods (Black and White)

Late Winter Ferns, Muir Woods (Black and White). Muir Woods National Monument, California. April 28, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of lush leaves of late winter ferns in the redwood forest of Muir Woods National Monument, California.

On this late-winter visit to Muir Woods National Monument – a place I photograph often – I noticed the combination of lush growth for recent heavy rains and somewhat warmer temperatures indicating the approach of spring. Many of the forest floor plants were coming back to life and there was lots of greenery everywhere. (There were also plenty of wildflowers, though it seems that I missed the trillium bloom this season.)

Ferns grow throughout the groves in the bottom of the Redwood Creek canyon and there is a mixture of lush green ferns and the older dead growth underneath. One of my objectives was to shoot the older brown and gray ferns, but I couldn’t resist this pattern of the interlocking and overlapping leaves of these very green ferns – not that you can tell in this black and white rendition of the subject! (There is a color version of this photograph coming soon.)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 200mm
ISO 200, f/16, 4 seconds

keywords: lush, growth, fern, leaf, frond, branch, green, overlap, dense, winter, late, redwood, forest, coast, grove, foliage, flora, nature, scenic, travel, muir, woods, national, monument, golden gate, recreation, area, pattern, san francisco, california, usa, north america, marin, county, stock, black and white, monochrome

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Redwood Creek, Muir Woods

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Redwood Creek, Muir Woods
Redwood Creek, Muir Woods

Redwood Creek, Muir Woods. Muir Woods National Monument, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California. December 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Water cascades over moss covered rocks along Redwood Creek at Muir Woods National Monument.

I made this photograph on a low-light end-of-autumn day at Muir Woods where the first bridge on the main trail loop crosses over Redwood Creek. It was no problem getting a long enough exposure in this low light – in fact, the main technical issue here involved waiting for a break in the tourist hiker traffic across the bridge, since the bridge is small and tends to bounce!

I love Muir Woods during the dark and damp season of late fall and early winter. The direct sunlight does not often make it down into the bottom of this cold canyon at this time of year. The light is almost always soft and diffused and when everything is a bit wet – e.g. most of the time – the colors becomes intense and saturated.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Autumn Leaves, Muir Woods

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Autumn Leaves, Muir Woods
Autumn Leaves, Muir Woods

Autumn Leaves, Muir Woods. Muir Woods National Monument, California. December 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful late autumn leaves in the redwood forest of Muir Woods National Monument, California.

These leaves represent more or less the last gasp of autumn color at Muir Woods – the photograph was taken just a few days before the winter solstice. Although I’ve visited Muir Woods a number of times of a period of many years, during this past year I have done quite a bit of photography there, and with this series of photographs I feel like I’ve gone through a full season with the park. As I wandered through the main groves twice during the last half of December I really had a strong feeling of concluding a year of growth in the forest… and of shooting this subject. It was fitting that on this visit I saw for the first time one of the first flowers to come up as a new cycle begins, the fetid adders’ tongue and its subtle but beautiful flower. This got me thinking about and looking forward to the cycle of renewal that will soon begin again in this park.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fetid Adder’s Tongue

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Fetid Adder's Tongue
Fetid Adder's Tongue

Fetid Adder’s Tongue. Muir Woods National Monument, California. December 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fetid Adder’s Tongue flower at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I never would have guessed a week or two ago that there would be a post at my blog entitled “Fetid Adder’s Tongue” before the end of the year. Regardless of the photographic quality of the post, I could not pass up the opportunity for a post with this title!

I was walking along the main trail to Cathedral Grove at Muir Woods when I spotted a very excited looking couple bending down and looking very intently at what appeared to be a patch of empty ground with a bit of moss. As I got closer they pointed out this flower – I never would have spotted it otherwise, and I’m fairly observant about such things. It is small – perhaps two or three inches tall – and much harder to see that it seems in my photograph, where the blurred background lets it stand out a bit. From what they told me it is one of the first flowers to emerge after the rainy season begins. After finding this one we looked around a bit and found quite a few more in the nearby area.

I was back at Muir Woods a few days later and looked for this plant again, but the flowers had almost completely shriveled away. Apparently this is not a long-lived flower! I did find several other examples nearby, including a few plants that were just coming up from under the ground.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

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