Grazing Deer, Evening. Yosemite National Park, California. August 5, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A huge herd of deer grazes in evening light at Tuolumne Meadows beneath Lembert Dome and Mount Dana

This evening started out looking like it might turn out to be a photographic bust. I had been over near Mono Lake earlier in the evening where smoky haze from a forest fire to the south along the eastern slopes of the Sierra was making photography a bit challenging. I did manage to get a few interesting images of the lake, but as the sun started to drop behind the Sierra crest to the east, things began to look very murky. I decided that I might just have enough time to get up and over the crest to where it was possible that the air might be a bit clearer, since forest fire smoke can be somewhat localized and varies a lot depending upon the wind. Crossing Tioga Pass, high clouds and more smoke continued to make the possibilities seem less than promising. This was one of those times when there was a temptation to just head back to camp and kick back for the evening. But I virtually never give in to that, so I continued on down Tioga Pass Road toward Tuolumne, hoping that something might change with this light. In fact, aside from the haze, this evening was a candidate for one of my favorite of all Sierra light shows that can happen when the cloud deck ends somewhere to the west, and the descending sun briefly shines under the clouds for a few moments right before sunset.

I got my first hint without warning. I had pulled over at a spot where I could see higher peaks to the southeast, thinking that I had seen a subtle glow on the shoulder of one far off ridge – but by the time I got the camera and tripod set up it was gone. Somewhat frustrated, I took down the equipment, got back in the car, started driving… and literally 30 seconds later the light suddenly came under the clouds and bathed the entire scene in warm colors. I did (another) quick u-turn and went back to the spot I had just left and made a few exposures. However, in this light I started thinking that interesting things might happen in Tuolumne Meadows, so I headed on down that direction to find interesting but unusual light. The warm color was certainly there, but the haze was muting the intensity of the light and softening distant features. With the idea of photographing across the meadow from the west end, I drove on… and soon saw that largest herd of deer that I can recall ever seeing here. I’ve often seen groups of perhaps a half-dozen or a few more, but here there were dozens. (In fact, I can count at least three dozen in this photograph, and it doesn’t include all of the critters that were in this herd.) So, as the nearly-gaudy glow of the last cloud-filtered light came to the meadow, I photographed this herd with a long lens, positioning myself so that I could place barely lit Lembert Dome and the summit of Mount Dana behind the animals.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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