Category Archives: Photographs: Nature

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

First Light, Mono Lake

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First Light, Mono Lake
“First Light, Mono Lake” — Colorful dawn light over Mono Lake just before the rising sun clears the mountains.

Arising for dawn is a challenge for many people. I understand, but I think the rewards earned by getting up early are worth it — though I do have to remind myself or this sometimes as I contemplate my alarm going off a few hours before sunrise. But once I’m up and on my way, I actually enjoy the entire experience — the pre-dawn travel in darkness, the first glow in the eastern sky, the anticipation as the light builds, the first direct light on peaks, and eventually the sun itself. If you can’t imagine getting up that early, just try it a few times. I suspect you might get hooked.

I was in the Eastern Sierra to photograph fall colors, camped up some high valley on the east side of the range near the entrance to Yosemite National Park. On this morning I ended up at Mono Lake, where I set up and watched as the sky filled with intense color and the first rays of the sun peeked over the distant desert mountains beyond the lake.

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.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening Aspens

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Evening Aspens
“Evening Aspens” — Groves of autumn aspen trees in the shadow of Sierra Nevada peaks.

I confess to often looking for the most intensely colorful aspen groves and visiting them when the light most enhances that intensity. Often this means positioning the trees between me and the sun, as back-light can make the leaves glow with unbelievable intensity. But that is obviously not the only way to photograph beautiful fall color, and something more subtle gets my attention, too. In fact, I love photographing these trees in the shade, where the colors may be a bit less intense, but where soft light fills the shadows and reveals details.

I began photographing in this area in the late afternoon when the sun was, in fact, back-lighting the trees. But in this particular location the sun drops behind higher peaks well before sunset, and shadows fall across the landscape. So I continued photographing as the light softened and eventually began to fade.

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.

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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Oaks, Meadow, Drifting Smoke

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Oaks, Meadow, Drifting Smoke
“Oaks, Meadow, Drifting Smoke” — Smoke from a management fire drifts among autumn black oak trees in Yosemite Valley.

This photograph and the circumstances that led to it are a reminder about how things sometimes turn out differently than you might expect. I had left for Yosemite Valley hours before sunrise, planning to arrive in time to photograph in early morning light. Everything was going fine until I got into the lower Valley and discovered that smoke from a managed fire was blanketing the subject! I was quite disappointed as I drove along the south side of the Valley. But there I was, and there the smoke was, and I was there to make photographs — so I decided to see what possibilities might remain.

I crossed over to the north side of the valley, and looked back into the sunlight and these trees silhouetted in the drifting smoke, which was now glowing in the backlight from sunlight coming over the Valley rim. The backlight made the brown autumn oak leaves glow, and the slowly drifting smoke constantly altered the landscape, sometimes revealing and sometimes hiding features.

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.

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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sky

Mono Craters, Evening Cloudscape

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Mono Craters, Evening Cloudscape
“Mono Craters, Evening Cloudscape” — Dissipating afternoon storm clouds above Mono Craters.

I made this photograph at the end of a beautiful afternoon of aspen photography that was enhanced by the passage of impressive thunder storms. I had completed the day’s aspen photography and dropped back down into the high desert along US 395 in the Mono Lake area when the clouds began to thin and break up and glow in evening light. Here some lenticular clouds were forming over the Mono Craters.

The Mono Craters comprise an interesting bit of geology that we might not automatically associate with the Sierra Nevada. We tend to think of the range being built by the uplift of gigantic “blobs” of granite, with deeply eroded overlaying material above. But volcanic processes were at work out here, too. Mono Craters are a particularly obvious example that you cannot miss as you drive south from Mono Lake — and part of a chain of volcanic cones extending from the north short of the lake to south of Mammoth Mountain.

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.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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