Peak and Tarn, Sunrise. Kings Canyon National Park, California. September 15, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
The first dawn light touches Sierra Nevada peaks and is reflected in a rock-studded sub-alpine tarn
This month a group of us spent nine days in the Sierra Nevada back-country in Kings Canyon National Park, remaining in a single location for six nights. For a photographer, this is a special opportunity to really begin to “get inside” a small area, with time to wander thoughtfully among the features of the landscape at all hours of the day and in a range of conditions, returning more than once to revisit subjects in varying conditions. Up each morning before dawn, we would wander off in different directions to pursue whatever interested us and to find whatever we could find, return to camp during midday hours, and then wander off again in the late afternoon, usually not returning until dark. So often when we visit such places we either look from a distance or hurry through trying “not to miss anything” – but on this visit we had time to get to know individual lakes, rocks, trees, ledges, you name it.
Perhaps 10 minutes away from our camp was a broad valley filled with lakes and tarns and rocky meadows. I think I visited here at least four times, morning and evening. I had already explored the area a bit on an earlier evening when I arrived on this morning before the first light hit the peaks on the divide between the 60 Lakes Basin and Gardiner Basin, so I knew that there were many opportunities to juxtapose the waters of the quiet, cold, rock-filled tarns with the high peaks and first light.
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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Another killer. It’s interesting how you can see into the water close to the camera while the mountains, et. al. are nicely reflected on the opposite end of the pool…