Paintbrush Flowers, Meadow

Paintbrush Flowers, Meadow
Late-August paintbrush flowers blooming in a Sierra Nevada meadow

Paintbrush Flowers, Meadow. John Muir Wilderness, California. August 29, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late-August paintbrush flowers blooming in a Sierra Nevada meadow

This photograph takes me back a couple of months, and now that autumn is here and aspen season has mostly come and gone, that late summer time seems a long ways off. We were part of a group of photographers and friends who made our way to this backcountry location, where we base-camped and photographed the nearby mountains for nine glorious days. In a more typical summer this part of the Sierra would likely be rather dry by late August, but in this year of record precipitation the meadows were still green and wildflowers were abundant.

We camped on a glacial moraine above this meadow and lake. Despite the size of our group and our presence here for more than a week, I’m confident that most other visitors to the lake would not have even seen our camp. (If they came through in the early morning or evening hours they probably would have found us out making photographs.) Although we stayed here, it wasn’t until rather late in the trip that I finally got around to photographing this meadow. I guess it was too close that I focused more on subjects that were a bit further away. The photograph focuses on the multi-colored paintbrush flowers growing in the meadow, and it includes the mountains across the valley that were “in our sights” for the whole time we were there.


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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