Tag Archives: clouds

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Spring Wildflowers

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Spring Wildflowers
Bright yellow spring wildflowers carpet the hills of the Carrizo Plain National Monument

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

Bright yellow spring wildflowers carpet the hills of the Carrizo Plain National Monument.

As I drove a bit deeper into the Carrizo Plain National Monument last week I encountered this scene along a section of gravel road. These yellow flowers — I believe they are a daisy known as monolopia — covered vast areas from the lowest levels of the plain on up to the slopes of the surrounding mountains. I made the photograph on a somewhat special morning that had begun with thick ground fog. Eventually the fog broke up to leave behind blue sky with scatted fluffy clouds.

These flowers are a very short-lived phenomenon here, and they don’t grow in such abundance every year. This has been a relatively good year for rainfall, and this area was hit by heavy rains from an atmospheric river storm a few weeks earlier. These wildflowers are opportunistic — in bad years they may barely make an appearance, but when the rains do come they make up for lost time and produce brief but astounding displays. (If you were to come back here in a bit more than a month you would find a very dry landscape and very few 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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People In Landscape, Photographs: Southern California

Road And Fence, Carrizo Plain

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Road And Fence, Carrizo Plain
A gravel road passes through a barbed wire fence, Carrizo Plain National Monument

Road And Fence, Carrizo Plain. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A gravel road passes through a barbed wire fence, Carrizo Plain National Monument.

My inclination is to approach photography in locations like the Carrizo Plain as photography of the “natural landscape.” However, the story is a bit more complicated here and, to be honest, in quite a few places in the areas of the American West where I photograph. I’m hard pressed to think of a place I’ve visited where the “hand of man” was not present in some way. In many places this influence is not obvious. For example, in parts of the Sierra backcountry I can entertain the illusion that I’m the only visitor. But in many places around the periphery of these wildernesses and in many other locations it is clear that such an illusion is hard to maintain.

In the Carrizo this is very clear, even though there is plenty of nature to see there. We could start with the obvious fact that access is by roadways that are, even at their worst, pretty decent. More obviously, this is a place where cattle are raised and, no doubt, have been for a long time. I drove out onto the plain at this spot to see vast fields of yellow and purple wildflowers and to find a long view of surrounding mountains. When I arrived I found a pair of the ubiquitous water tanks (this time nearly destroyed), and old windmill, a few other structures, and this barbed wire fencing.

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: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Spring Growth, Stormy Sky

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Spring Growth, Stormy Sky
New spring grass and flowers on a hillside beneath a stormy sky

Spring Growth, Stormy Sky. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

New spring grass and flowers on a hillside beneath a stormy sky.

This scene somewhat took me by surprise. When I went to the Carrizo I was expecting to experience sunny, dry conditions, and even a bit of warmth. But as I approached I drove through occasional light showers, and soon after I arrived at my campground it began to rain lightly. (This forced a decision – sleep in the back of my 4Runner or set up my tent. The prospect of having to repack a wet tent the next morning forced the decision.) I set up my minimal campsite — which mainly consisted of putting out a few objects to make it clear that the site was occupied — and then I headed out to make late afternoon and evening photographs.

As I headed down the gravel road it was clear that the afternoon weather was going to be “interesting.” At times it was sunny, but then moments later a shower would arrive and drop some rain. As I drove past this flower-covered hill, the sky behind it was covered in very dark clouds, so I stopped to make a photograph emphasizing the contrast. As I set up, beams of sunlight passed over the foreground scene, lighting it up against the darker and more dramatic sky.

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: Nature, Photographs: People In Landscape, Photographs: Southern California

Water Tanks, Mountains and Plain

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Water Tanks, Mountains and Plain
Two abandoned water tanks at Carrizo Plain National Monument in spring

Water Tanks, Mountains and Plain. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two abandoned water tanks at Carrizo Plain National Monument in spring.

These old and apparently abandoned water tanks sit over a small seasonal stream a good distance up above the floor of the Carrizo Plain. You would think that the purpose of the tanks would be obvious, but I’m not so sure. I did a bit of (less-than-diligent) research to try to discover their purpose, but what little I came up with seemed to have less of the character of being based on primary sources and more than of something reportedly heard by someone who was told something by someone who thought they remembered that… You get the picture. I can think of two possibilities. As some sources report, they could have been built to ensure a year-round water supply for cattle operations. It also seems possible that they could have been connected to resource extraction operations, such as those at Soda Lake.

The presence of the tanks is a reminder that this landscape (like most landscapes, to be honest) has a strong human element — it isn’t exactly wilderness! When people visit the Carrizo today they most likely come to see the natural phenomenon of the springtime wildflowers. But the place has been shaped by oil exploration and (nearby) extraction, cattle ranching, “mining” of various sorts, and more. All of that aside, the backdrop for these remnant structures, especially on a spring day when rain showers alternated with sunshine, is an immense and spectacular landscape.

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.