Trees, Meadow, Snow Storm. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Snow falls on a tree-studded Yosemite Valley meadow

I made this photograph as a snow squall swept through this part of Yosemite Valley, on an afternoon that featured changeable weather. It was often cloudy, sometimes the sun broke through, at other times snow fell heavily for short periods. It was during one of those latter moments when I stopped here, entranced by the silhouetted tree shapes and the moodiness of the snow-obscured landscape.

Snow and fog (and to some extent rain) can make the task of photography more difficult, but the visual value they bring mac the challenges worthwhile. A location like this one can be almost too dense with complex detail when the air is completely clear, but some fog or snow mute the distant details and simplify the scene in useful ways. Here the dark shapes of the closer trees acquire a stronger (and more abstract) presence in the scene, and the distant features that would otherwise be visible fade to obscurity and instead provide a sort of depth to the scene. I made a practical decision, too, when photographing this scene. Because of the challenging conditions of windblown snow, rather than putting my bigger camera on the tripod I shot handheld with a smaller system I was also carrying.

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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