“The Storm Ends” — Sunset light on clouds as a summer monsoon storm clears above Sierra Nevada peaks.
Yes, I’m still working my way through the photographs from our August backcountry photography expedition in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. The process is often an extended one for me. Typically there are a few images that jump out at me immediately. Then I begin to work on photographs that I was less sure about initially but which grow on me as I consider them. Finally there are photographs like this one that, from the start, seemed interesting but which I knew would take additional effort to bring to a presentable state. In this case, the light was quite challenging and this version of the photograph required considerable post-processing to get it to where I feel that it reflects what I saw and felt that evening.
We had walked in to our basecamp location (with packers bringing much of our gear) the previous day. Almost immediately after our arrival a tremendous monsoonal summer storm unloaded on us, pinning us down in our tents for hours. The challenging weather continued, albeit in less dramatic form, over the next 24 hours. On the second evening the clouds began to break a bit and it seemed like the sky might be getting lighter beyond the ridge to our west. We all headed out to photograph the transition, and we were not disappointed! As the clearing continued, fog drifted among the peaks and the last of the day’s sun illuminated clouds with sunset 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
A High Sierra stream cascades past forest and meadows and over boulders after summer rainstorms.
This little “almost-intimate” landscape comes from closer to the midpoint of our August backcountry photography trip. The first few days features some challenging weather, including torrential rains on the first day. That rain flooded a lot of the area and raised this creek by several feet. On that first afternoon as we lay in our tents sheltering from the storm we started to hear a roar beneath the sound of rain and hail — it was the sound of this “little” creek growing to a dangerous torrent.
The tumultuous water was brown with suspended material washed down from the higher mountains, and for days the nearby lake’s water was coffee-colored. But before long the creek began to recede and its water cleared. By the time I made this photograph early one morning the water was low enough that I could safely ford the stream. I was about to do just that on my way to some timberline country when I paused and made this photograph of the creek, still in morning shadows.
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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
A High Sierra waterfall, brought back to life by torrential rains surges over rocky ledges.
I love watching for, observing, and experiencing the typical seasonal transitions. For example, right about now I have my eyes on the first signs of the approach of autumn. In spring I watch water levels in creeks and streams. In winter I track the appearance of birds. However, I’m also fascinated when conditions are abnormal, when something unusual happens that conflicts with our seasonal expectations. The cascade in this photograph, and the “deluge” the caused it, fit into that latter category.
This has been a very dry period in California. Winter precipitation has been far below normal levels, and warmer temperatures have decreased the amount of water released from the snowpack during the warm months. Consequently, the high country has been stressed. Yet… on the first couple of days of our August high country visit we experienced the heaviest and most prolonged heavy summer rain that I have ever experienced in the backcountry. It was heavy enough that we really could not leave our tents for hours, and when we emerged the landscape was drenched and a nearby creek was coming out of its banks. Later on this trip we followed a branch of the stream up into the alpine zone, and along that route we passed this surprisingly powerful waterfall.
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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
Alpine stream, meadows, boulder fieldsEast of Peaks, End of Day— and one tiny photographer — beneath high peaks in shadow as the day ends.
Those of you who see my photography online may have noticed the “continued:” links accompanying my short social media posts. They take you to a bit more information about each image that I post with the original at my website. The story that I’ll share with this photograph is longer than usual, so you may want to click through and take a look! It goes into the background behind this trip, a bit about who participated, and a little surprise in the image that you would probably not otherwise notice. Tempted? Click that link!
This photograph comes from a weeklong trip into the Sierra backcountry with a group of fellow photographers and friends. Almost 15 years ago I was privileged to link up with another such group (informally known as the “First Light” group, after the title of their book) that did trips like this since 2001. There is an even longer history of similar trips going all the way back to Ansel Adams and the Sierra Club. The concept of such trips was to establish a basecamp at a suitable backcountry location for a week or more of exploration and photography. Because no effort was spared to use high end equipment, pack train support was used to bring camp gear in and out as the photographers carried additional gear in backpacks.
This year’s trip included a different set of photographers, though with links to the First Light crew. (Three of us had been on at least one of the previous trips and I’ve been on several.) In fact, we we loosely emulated the predecessor trips in many ways. (“First Light II?” “First Light, TNG?” “Second Light?”) We walked to our destination, packers brought in the bulk of our gear, we established a base camp, and we spent a week exploring and photographing all around our camp in a wide range of conditions. Perhaps best of all, we got to become a little community of backcountry photographers for the week — surviving the Great Torrential Rain of 2022 together, fixing and eating group meals, sharing stories and tips in the evenings and slow midday hours, heading out to photograph in constantly evolving sub-groups, and more.
The group included Michael Frye, Claudia Welsh, Franka Gabler, David Hoffman, Jerry Bosworth, Patricia Mitchell, and myself. Jerry was the initial inspiration for this trip when he responded to a post of mine about a particular Sierra feature and mentioning that it was perhaps a place that he might not get to again. My reply, which was basically “what about a pack train?,” and his enthusiastic response got the ball rolling… and a few months later we were in the Sierra again. It turned out to be an absolutely wonderful combination of personalities.
There’s a lot more I could (and eventually will) write about the group itself and our adventures, but I’ll use this photograph to share one little vignette. I’ve written about the horrible weather we had on the first couple of days of the trip. Finally, on this afternoon and evening, things cleared up and we all gradually headed up into the same area of the high country, following a stream swollen by the heavy rain. Eventually we emerged from forest and into the open alpine country, were we could see the peaks towering above to our west. I made this photograph just before I turned around — the light was starting to fade as the sun had long dropped below the peaks. If you look very closely, you might be able to spot a very tiny Michael Frye among the rocks and meadows.
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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
