California Coastal Spring

The first sign of spring in central California are always these yellow flowers which can form carpets. Everyone looks forward to them. They are prominent in the farm fields only, so you don’t see them in the state parks, say south of Big Sur. The rains are still coming at this time of year so the dirt roads on the farms are often muddy. The fields are covered with a four leaf clover like grass and the yellow flowers. It’s still too early for the deciduous. There is a pond to the left of this shot whose willows are still bare at this time. There may not even be buds yet.

This was shot with a Canon 6D 24-105mm lens.

1 Like

Igor, the mix of yellow/green field and blue water is lovely. I expect that these yellow flowers are in the Mustard family. We get carpets of them very early in the spring on this coast as well. Again mostly in farm fields. The winding two track does a fine job of leading into the scene. Even the bare willows with their hints of red fit well.

I like the perspective here very much, Igor - the high horizon line leaves the flowers and the path to take the eye into the comp nicely. Lovely hues too.

This perfectly captures the early spring atmosphere in coastal central California. A muddy road to the ocean, the dark willows, and those little yellow flowers. The sinuous road is perfectly placed in the frame.

Definitely provides that Spring feeling, Igor! The flowers could be there most of the year but the big clue to Springtime is the dead grasses and bare brush on the left side. I like how the contrasting sides of the scene are interlocked like puzzle pieces.

A beautiful composition, Igor, as others have mentioned. Superbly balanced and definitely a spring scene.