Sunset on Rolling Hills
Golden setting sunlight illuminates Adonis lupines in the foreground while rolling hills recede through the Tejon Ranch landscape. Fiddlenecks and California poppies share the scene with patches of Evening-snow (Linanthus dichotomus), whose small white flowers begin opening as daylight fades. The low-angle light creates layers of warmth, shadow and newly emerging evening flowers across the hills.
The final light of the day transformed these rolling hills. Adonis lupines caught the warm setting sunlight while fiddlenecks and California poppies filled the surrounding landscape. Across the distant slopes, patches of Evening-snow were beginning to open as sunset approached.
Evening-snow added another dimension to photographing Tejon Ranch late in the day. As the light faded and many daytime flowers responded to the approaching night, these small white flowers were doing the opposite—opening as evening arrived and gradually becoming more visible across the hills.
This photograph later became the cover image for Richard Minnich’s California’s Fading Wildflowers, published by the University of California Press, giving a photograph made during the 1991 Tejon Ranch bloom a second life as part of a broader story about California’s changing wildflower landscapes.