Category Archives: Photographs: Mono Lake Basin

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Night

Mono Moonrise

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Mono Moonrise
The light of the rising full moon reflected on the surface of Mono Lake

Mono Moonrise. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The light of the rising full moon reflected on the surface of Mono Lake.

This is another of the autumn photographs that isn’t really an autumn photograph, except perhaps by extension. I was in the eastern Sierra for about eight days in the first part of October, primarily to chase the fall aspen color. But that most certainly is not the only thing worth seeing in and around the Sierra at this time of the year. The night before we had watched the moon rise well after dark and speculated about when (and precisely where) the full moon would rise the next night. We did not have any authorities to consult, so we made a good guess that it would probably rise just after sunset, which still provides enough ambient light to illuminate the landscape a bit and to reduce the contrast between the bright moon and its relatively darker surroundings. As sunset approached we left the place where we had been photographing aspens and I pulled over at a likely spot… which turned out to be almost precisely the right place to be.

We looked up just in time to see the first sliver of the moon emerge above the small peak barely visible at the left end of the ridge beyond the lake. We were set up and ready to go by the time it cleared the ridge, and we spent the next few minutes continuing to photograph as the moon rose, the surroundings darkened, and the reflection on Mono Lake become more prominent.

Special Announcement: Sharing this night photograph of mine is timely, as later this week I and my colleagues from Studio Nocturne SF, a collective of Bay Area night photographers, are offering an “Open Studio” as part of annual the San Francisco ArtSpan event in The City. We are showing our work at Big Daddy’s Antiques, 1550 17th Street on the following schedule:

Friday: October 25, 6:30PM-9:00PM — Artist Reception
Saturday, October 26: 11:00AM-6:00PM — Open Studio
Sunday, October 27: 11:00AM-6:00PM — Open Studio

All three events are free and open to the public. If you are in the Bay Area, please drop in and say “hi,” enjoy our photography, talk with us about our work, and acquire a photograph for your collection.

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: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Above Mono Basin

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Above Mono Basin
A long view into and across Mono Basin and Mono Lake in the early morning

Above Mono Basin. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A long view into and across Mono Basin and Mono Lake in the early morning.

You certainly cannot tell from the photograph, but this was a very cold autumn morning in the region east of the Sierra Nevada crest. We work up at our camp in one of the Eastern Sierra canyons before dawn in temperatures that were around 20 degrees Fahrenheit — cold but not unusual for early October. We headed east, out past Mono Lake and then climbing into nearby mountains. Along the way the thermometer in our vehicle went as low as nine degrees! When you are only a few weeks past the end of summer, that feels very cold!

From this high point on a long ridge overlooking Mono Lake we could see a vast expanse from near to far. Just below us was a bit of conifer forest (and nearby some aspens), but the landscape here is mostly sagebrush country. Far below we looked across the two volcanic islands of this lake to its far shore, and beyond that the hills and mountains climbed here, with the most distant peaks (barely visible in the late-season wildfire haze) well above 10,000 feet.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mono Basin, Morning

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Mono Basin, Morning
Autumn wildfire haze slighlty obscures mountains on the far, eastern side of Mono Basin

Mono Basin, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn wildfire haze slighlty obscures mountains on the far, eastern side of Mono Basin.

Early on this autumn morning, before heading off to find aspen trees to photograph, we made a side trip to a high spot with a view of the Sierra Crest, Mono Lake, and most of the the Mono Basin. We arrived before sunrise and set up our equipment to photograph the sunrise, which turned out to be a subtle experience due to the prevalence of drifting wildfire smoke east of the Sierra Nevada.

Mono Basin is a gigantic landscape. It is one of those places where the scale is so grand that it is actually hard to realize just how big the distances are. This photograph looks across the surface of the huge lake to its far, eastern shoreline and to the dry mountain ranges beyond. That distant landscape lies in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada, and it quickly takes on the dry quality of Nevada’s basin and range country.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Black Point

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Black Point
Mono Lake and Black Point

Black Point. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mono Lake and Black Point.

Mono Lake and the basin it occupies make up a huge and diverse area with all sorts of attractions. The lake itself is usually regarded as the most striking feature — it is a massive, landlocked body of water filled by runoff from the eastern Sierra, whose peaks form the backdrop to the west. It sits on the western edge of the basin and range country that stretches east for many hundred of miles. And there are subjects on a more intimate scale, too, ranging from tufa towers to the abundant birdlife. It is also a place of volcanism, with craters in and extending south from the lake. And for me one of the most impressive features is the expanse of the place, with views extending across vast distances.

This feature, also volcanic, sits along the northern shoreline of the lake. While is easy to view from afar, it isn’t quite so simple to get to it, and consequently it is not a crowded place at all. In the lower portion of the photograph the lake’s waters meet its gentle shoreline, where water levels have dropped, in more recent times largely due to water withdrawn from tributary streams and sent to the LA area.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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