Monthly Archives: November 2008

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Oak Among Pines

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An Oak Among the Pines

Oak Among Pines. Yosemite Valley, California. November 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary oak with autumn foliage against the backdrop of a dense pine forest in Yosemite Valley near El Capitan Meadow.

As I was photographing the brilliant fall colors of meadow and oak trees in El Capitan Meadow in early November I noticed this solitary oak apart from the other oaks, along the edge of the meadow and with a recently-burned pine forest behind it.

Update: Someone pointed out that these “recently-burned” trees look pretty darn healthy and wondered what I meant. If you look closely you can see that the bases of the trees are, in fact, scorched. In Yosemite National Park, a “fire management” policy is pursued in place of a “fire suppression” policy. Decades ago fire in the forest was regarded as a bad thing and the enemy of healthy forests. More recently it has become apparent that fire is actually part of the life of a healthy forest – and that letting a forest go too long without fire is actually a very bad thing.

This has been proven in many places, including Yosemite. Several very destructive fires have almost completely destroyed some forest areas that were too long “protected” from fire – and as a result the excessive fuel that built up led to tremendously hot and destructive fires that completely killed off old trees. In a healthy forest, the more typical fire may burn the ground plants – many of which are adapted to recover quickly – but it rarely is hot enough to kill off the old, large trees.

Recognizing this, the park service now allows most natural fires to take their natural course, sometimes burning slowly (with supervision and “management”) for weeks or months. Fires are intentionally set in The Valley for this same purpose, and the result is very healthy forests like the one seen behind the oak tree – bearing some signs of past low level fires, but otherwise in very good shape.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Star Trails and Surf, Pacific Ocean

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Star Trails and Surf, Pacific Ocean

Star Trails and Surf, Pacific Ocean. Pigeon Point, California. November 15, 2008 © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of glowing surf and star trails above the Pacific Ocean coastline of California at Pigeon Point.

Every autumn the old beacon at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse south of Half Moon Bay, California is re-lighted for one evening. I first heard of this event last year, and I drove over only to arrive late and find that the lighthouse was fogged in. This year the event occurred on an unusually clear and warm evening so I headed over once again to photograph the lighthouse. We arrived early enough to join the throngs of photographers set up to shoot the amazing beacon from the original fresnel lens… but my heart just wasn’t in it when it came to photographing this scene. It happens. So instead of photographing the lighthouse we decided to wander around and just take in the scene.

A bit later I thought it might be interesting to walk up the coastline a bit and try a shot pointed back at the lighthouse from a greater distance. We found a nice flat spot along the top of the low bluffs north of the lighthouse and set up. But I still just couldn’t see the shot I was looking for, so I decided to instead turn my attention to the ocean itself. I thought that a long exposure capturing the star trails heading for the horizon and the foreground cove might be interesting. I set up and made one 15 minute (!) exposure in landscape orientation, but a couple of offshore boats with lights slowly moved across the scene – not what I had in mind. Having time for one more shot I decided to try one in portrait orientation with the same foreground cove. This time I had better luck. First, no boats! But even better, about 4 or 5 minutes from the end of the exposure the nearly-full moon topped the low ridge behind us and began to add its glow to the atmosphere and the surf! I wish I could say I planned this – but the best I can claim is that when I realized what was happening I modified my plans a little and took advantage of the situation.

keywords: night, photography, surf, star, trails, pacific, ocean, coast, coastline, shore, rocks, sky, glow, pigeon, point, mist, rocks, cove, sea, seascape, landscape, travel, scenic, stock, california, usa, highway, one, 1

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A Meta List of WordPress Themes and Plugins for Photographers

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WP Candy has a Photoblogging with WordPress Round-Up that includes links to a ton of resources that are geared for WordPress-based photography web sites.

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.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cliff and Fog Near Glacier Point

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Cliff and Fog Near Glacier Point

Cliff and Fog Near Glacier Point. Yosemite Valley, California. November 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fog shrouded arete on the cliffs of Yosemite Valley near Glacier Point.

This bit of fog shrouded cliff is on the south side of Yosemite Valley a bit west of Glacier Point. While I was busy shooting similar conditions across the Valley at upper Yosemite Falls I happened to look over my shoulder and see this ridge barely breaking through the light rain and fog on this rather wet November morning. For the most part the arete was completely obscured, but as the wind moved the clouds around the rocky face the rocks and trees of this bit of ridge emerged from time to time – so it was a matter of setting up a likely composition and then waiting for an interesting bit of rock and vegetation to appear.

keywords: cliff, face, arete, tree, ridge, mountain, fog, cloud, mist, glacier point, yosemite, valley, national park, obscure, nature, scenic, travel, landscape, atmosphere, weather, rain, sierra, nevada, california, usa, stock, black and white