All posts by G Dan Mitchell

G Dan Mitchell, photographer and visual opportunist focusing on the Pacific coast, the Sierra Nevada, redwood forests, California oak/grasslands, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography and more. Posting daily photographs since 2005, along with articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Sentinel Dome, Sunrise And Clouds

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Sentinel Dome, Sunrise And Clouds
Rays of morning sun above Sentinel Dome cross a ridge and illuminate forest and clouds

Sentinel Dome, Sunrise And Clouds. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rays of morning sun above Sentinel Dome cross a ridge and illuminate forest and clouds

You can spend quite a few photography days without finding special light, and then unexpectedly run headfirst into something remarkable. That was the story on this late April visit to Yosemite Valley to photograph the transition from winter to spring. (I had photographed in cold and snow there a week prior, but now the snow was gone and the weather was warming.) The first two days were fine — typical spring days in the Valley — but it was challenging to find special light. Then on my final morning luck was with me. When I started for the Valley well before sunrise I could see that the sky was clouded over, and it promised to be a gray morning. But as I drove I started to see some light sneaking in under the clouds, and I guessed that the cover might be breaking up by the time I got to the Valley.

I arrived at the first good view of the Valley just as the sun was coming up. The Valley was still mostly gray and cloud-shrouded, but the clouds to the east were thinner and breaking up. Before long the clouds thinned even more and the sunlight began to break through. The big view was still too gray for my taste at this point, so I put a long lens on the camera and began to look for small sections of the scene with dramatic light. Beyond Bridal Veil Fall the sun had just risen above the top of Sentinel Dome, and its light was streaming down across ridges and through trees.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Yosemite Forest, Spring

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Yosemite Forest, Spring
Spring plants sprout among the conifers in Yosemite Valley

Yosemite Forest, Spring. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring plants sprout among the conifers in Yosemite Valley

This photograph is the result of some aimless wandering and of finally visiting a spot that I have wondered about for years. Most of my landscape photography is done early and late in the day, and when the days get longer this can leave me with a lot of free midday time. What I do during those hours varies. If I am camping I may take that time for camp chores, otherwise known as eating, reading, and napping. When I’m in the gigantic landscape of Death Valley I may use this as travel time. On this recent set of visits to Yosemite Valley I used it as hiking time — either with my full complement of photography equipment or perhaps with a smaller camera and a couple of lenses. (Sometimes it is a relief to leave the “big gear” behind for a while!)

Although the light wasn’t favorable at this time of day, I decided to head up the Valley on foot towards a place where the shadows of towering cliffs would block the harsh daytime light a bit earlier in the day. I got there and saw a sigh I had seen before for something called “the fen.” I know that word from literary sources, but I had never (after all these decades!) bothered to investigate it in the Valley. I was in no hurry, so I wandered off in that direction. One of the features of the area is rather dense and, in some ways, lush vegetation. I looked, I finished, I wandered off to look at something else. But in the back of my mind I was thinking about these trees, and a bit later when the cliff shadows had lengthened enough to reach this spot I returned and made this photograph. While big, iconic features evoke Yosemite for us — and with good reason — for me these quiet little out-of-the-way spots in the forest are just as important in defining the place.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Ideas, Thinking Aloud

Improving Your Odds: That’s Why They Call It “Exceptional”

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This is the first of what will be a series of articles looking at steps you can take to improve your chances of producing compelling photographs.

A recent stay in Yosemite Valley during my Yosemite Renaissance artist-in-residency reminded me again that while many aspects of photography are out of our control, there are things we can do to increase the odds of success.

On this visit I had three late April spring days to photograph in the park, which mostly means “in Yosemite Valley” at this time of year when the high country is still snowed in. By non-photography standards, the Valley was beautiful — if a bit crowded.  The sun was out, the sky was blue, temperatures were comfortable, rivers were full of early snowmelt, the waterfalls were flowing, there were hints of green in the seasonal vegetation, and too many tourists were already showing up!

I did the usual things: I got up before dawn to find the early light. I stuck around until the last light faded. I returned to subjects that I knew from past experiences to be promising. I considered where the light would be at different times of day. I went looking for new subjects in likely places. I wandered. I kept my equipment with me at all times.  I made photographs, and some of them are even pretty good, but at times it was hard to “see” something special in these conditions.

What’s not to like, right? From a photographer’s point of view these are not ideal conditions for photography. As pleasant as nice weather is for hiking and camping and picnicking, it can be hard to find exceptional photographs in such everyday light. I and many of my fellow Sierra photographers prefer interesting and unusual conditions — precipitation, broken light, mist and clouds, some haze.

On the final morning I was up and heading into the Valley well before sunrise. The light was unspectacular, with thick overcast cutting off the morning light. But then I caught sight a bit more light in the east, and soon I saw some breaks in the clouds. Within fifteen minutes the conditions opened up and I was treated to an exceptional spectacle of light and clouds and landscape that lasted for several hours, during which I photographed continuously.  I made more interesting photographs during these few hours than during the rest of the visit.

Clearing Clouds, Merced River Canyon
The morning sun breaks through clearing clouds above Merced Canyon

To state the obvious, “exceptional” and “unusual” conditions are not the norm. The blue-sky “blah” light is. If you show up on ten randomly selected days, nine of them are going to be, literally, unexceptional,  and if you are looking for something unusual and beyond-the-norm you aren’t likely to find it.

The basic lesson is simple: The more you are out there the more likely you’ll be out there for something great. Continue reading Improving Your Odds: That’s Why They Call It “Exceptional” →

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

Clearing Clouds, Merced River Canyon

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Clearing Clouds, Merced River Canyon
Morning light on clearing clouds, Merced River Canyon and Lower Yosemite Valley

Clearing Clouds, Merced River Canyon. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on clearing clouds, Merced River Canyon and Lower Yosemite Valley

Yes, another photograph in the “Bierstadt morning” series, as I’ve come to think of it. (Albert Bierstadt was a renowned 19th-century landscape painter whose work in Yosemite is famous. His paintings, while true to the subjective experience of the place, relied on enhanced effects of color, light, perspective, and atmosphere.) As I have written, this morning started cloudy and gray but quickly transformed into a marvel of clouds, mists, and light that continued well into the mid-morning hours.

I began photographing in a location overlooking the main valley, but then decided to head up to this area, where I was thinking of several possible subjects. As I watched the play of light and atmosphere I decided to forego some of the intimate landscape opportunities and intend go for this large-scale scene looking up the valley of the Merced River. Working from one of the more obvious spots in the park, I set up and spent an hour or so watching the constant transformations of the scene as clouds opened, light appeared and moved across the scene, fog came and went, and more.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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