Category Archives: Photographs: Central California

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Wildlife

Grazing Deer, Evening

September 6, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

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.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Trees and Boulder, Morning

September 5, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Morning light on a boulder and a small group of trees growing on a granite slab in the Yosemite high country.

I suppose this sort of shot is turning up with a great deal of frequency among my photographs. I can’t help myself – I’m crazy about the combination of back (or side) lit trees, granite slabs and boulders, and haze obscured mountains, forests, and domes. I suppose this may be because such views, especially early and late in the day, seem to me to characterize the high country of Yosemite as much as just about any other feature.

This group of trees grows in a well-known location, and I drove to it before sunrise so that I could be out and about and looking for light from the get-go. This is a location that I have shot quite a few times in the past, so I feel like I’m getting more of a handle on what some of the possibilities and potentials are. On this morning I began nearby in a spot where there were lots of long shadows still, and after the sun rose a bit higher I moved on to this area of granite slabs and glacial erratic boulders, looking for trees that could stand against the more distant background of the glaciated granite forms with sparse trees growing here and there – in fact, on that far ridge they grow much the same way as the trees that are the central focus of this image.. There is almost always some haze here at this time of day, but it may have been just a bit thicker than usual due to a fire on the east side of the Sierra.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dusk, Earth-Shadow, Oaks and Grass

August 29, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The earth’s dusk earth shadow rises behind the folds of an oak and grass-covered Sierra Nevada foothill ridge on a late-summer evening

We had been in Mariposa, along the road heading towards Yosemite Valley, to meet up with friends and do various other fun things. As is often the case, at one point the conversation turned toward the photographic possibilities for later in the day. As the horrendous “Rim” fire was burning a few ridges over along the boundaries of the park, one thought was to find a high viewpoint and try to photograph the huge smoke clouds and the light from the flames during the dusk hours. A suggestion was offered by a person who knows the area concerning a gravel back-road to the top of an area ridge from which a good view might be obtained, so we decided to give that a try. It was a beautiful early evening – no smoke here – as we drove through oak and grass-covered hills below Mariposa to pick up this route and then ascended toward the ridge to turn off on the gravel road. From the junction we could see columns of smoke from burning forest to our north, but there was also a pretty clear “No Trespassing” sign posted along the road… so we decided that we should double-check our directions before risking a citation, and we headed back down the mountain.

The alternative plan had been to simply photograph the beautiful foothills themselves as the day came to an end. In this area there are many beautiful valleys of rolling hills covered with dry grassland and oak forests that sometimes thin to individual trees. We headed along a little back road and soon arrived at our main route shortly before the last sunlight was about to fade. Driving as we looked, we finally stopped at a turnout right after the sun had dropped below the horizon, where we could see the boundary between the last pink color in the sky and the rising blue line of the earth’s shadow. I used a long lens to make a small number of exposures shooting across the hillside patterns towards an oak-topped ridge with the dusk sky beyond.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Rocks, Surf, and Dusk Horizon

August 7, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A curving rock shelf extends into the “blue hour” Pacific Ocean surf and toward the fog-darkened horizon as night approaches.

A short, evening visit to the California coast above Santa Cruz began with photography in golden hour light in areas where the fog bank hung just offshore with moist air over the coast creating a gentle, misty atmosphere and soft light. We photographed a few subjects in this light – and looked at others that we did not stop to shoot – and continued north as the sun dropped toward the horizon, where the fog waited to envelop it. We stopped at a beach where large groups of pelicans were resting and then resuming their flight along the coast, and noted that there was still a bit of light in the sky and, oddly, below the bottom of the fog bank along the horizon. As this light died, we turned briefly north, and I soon saw this rocky bench extending into the ocean waves.

Following the evening golden hour there is a time that some call the blue hour – when the warmer colors of sunset drain from the sky and we are left with soft, blue light. It might have seemed odd to anyone watching me photograph this rocky feature, but instead of hurrying to shoot it before the light faded, I took my time – I wanted the light to fade, both for the mysterious blue coloration and because this would make it easier for me to use extended exposure times to allow the water to soften and blur a bit. When I began shooting it was only dark enough to get exposures of perhaps a second or two – at least without adding a neutral density filter – but as I waited, making an occasional photograph in the interim, the light began to move toward a near-night state, and I was able to get exposures of 15 seconds or longer… and that blue light that I was looking for.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Central California

Grazing Deer, Evening

Trees and Boulder, Morning

Dusk, Earth-Shadow, Oaks and Grass

Rocks, Surf, and Dusk Horizon

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.