A Note About ‘Mounts Dana and Gibb, Dawn’

July 18, 2007 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The photo I posted earlier today is of a spot that has perplexed me for a long time. I don’t know the name of this little lake – though it must one, considering its location. It is located in Yosemite National Park a short distance before Tioga Pass. It is right by the Tioga Pass Road, so it seems that someone is often there photographing it.

It is a picturesque little spot, but I’ve found it very difficult to photograph. Midday light is always difficult, and while the peaks pick up some wonderful light later in the day the foreground goes quite dark – and there is a lot of foreground.

However, I do like this version that I photographed in early July this year. I think that the key was the early morning hour, as opposed to my other attempts much later in the day. Not too long after dawn the light comes across the shoulder of Mt. Gibb, the peak to the right. The early season greenery around the edges of the pond help, as did the use of a wide angle perspective.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Yosemite

Mounts Dana and Gibb, Dawn

July 18, 2007 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

231

Mounts Dana and Gibb, Dawn. Yosemite National Park, California. July 3, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Site News

Summer Photography

July 17, 2007 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Since I’m in the fortunate position of being gainfully unemployed during the summer months (I’m a college faculty member who now avoids summer session) and living relatively close to the Pacific Coast, San Francisco, and the Sierra Nevada, summer is photography season for me. The photos posted here will generally reflect these summer themes: I earlier posted a series of images from an early July trip to the Sierra crest near Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite, you’ll see a whole series of San Francisco photographs through a good part of July, and later this summer I should have some new work from the Sierra back-country.

My favorite way to photograph in San Francisco is on foot. A few days ago I spend the better part of an afternoon in the Marina district between Fort Mason and Fort Point with a side trip to the Palace of Fine Arts. (Photographs from this session are currently in the queue.) I frequently wander along the waterfront between the Caltrain station and the Ferry Building, often venturing up into various nearby downtown areas.

My Sierra summer visits include short car-camping trips (like that early July trip mentioned above), short pack trips, and one or more extensive back-country pack trips of a week or more. It looks like this summer I’ll spend some time in the Minarets/Thousand Island Lake area and in the true High Sierra just west of the crest between Cottonwood Lakes and the Tyndall Creek area.