Category Archives: Photographs: Nature

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

Evening Fog, Autumn

September 18, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Evening fog forms on an autumn evening above a ridge near Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.

I made this photograph on a memorable evening back in 2008 while returning to the SF Bay Area from several days of autumn aspen photography on the east side of the Sierra. After shooting aspen subjects like crazy for several days, I more or less thought that my photography for this trip was finished as I ascending Tioga Pass to enter the park on my way home. In fact, I didn’t really do much photography around the pass or at Tuolumne. But as I drove I noticed that low clouds were forming over peaks and ridges, created by condensation in very moist post-rain air as the temperature dropped quickly as sunset approached. Now this was starting to seem a bit interesting!

As I came to Olmsted Point the clouds were so thick that I couldn’t really see a thing. You never know for sure how these atmospheric conditions are going to develop, and while part of me was disappointed that perhaps there would not be a photography opportunity, another part of me (the tired part!) was almost a bit relieved that I could perhaps get on with task of driving home. But as I rounded the very next bend, where the road rises to a high point just west of Olmsted, things opened up just a bit and light from a clear area a bit further to the west was making the fog glow a bit. So, with a combination of reluctance and excitement, I pulled over, hoisted my gear, and walked off into the forest and granite landscape to make this photograph.

(After making this one, I was certain that my work was done, as the light was fading fast. As fate would have it, a mile or two further on there was a tremendous view of the fog filled valley below, in soft dusk light and with Clouds Rest looming above. Yup, had to stop one more time for that one, too…)

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Bearpaw Camp

September 15, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Main tent at Bearpaw Camp, Bearpaw Meadow along the High Sierra Trail through Sequoia National Park.

I photographed the main tent (also known as the dining hall) at Bearpaw Camp back in 2008 while hiking the High Sierra Trail across the Sierra from west to east and culminating at Mount Whitney. This was the second time that I hiked this wonderful trail, having previously hiked it several decades earlier with my wife. On this second trip I was traveling with my “back-country friends,” a somewhat informally organized group known as the “talusdancers.” It is a long story…

A photograph of one of these old camps, much like the high sierra camps of Yosemite, always seems to recall images of the “old-time” Sierra for me. One of my first experiences in the high country of the Sierra involved a similar, though less isolated, seasonal tent camp in Yosemite – the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge. My dad had finally summoned up the courage to take his two oldest kids – that would be me and my younger brother, Richard – on what we thought might be a backpacking trip out of Tuolumne. As I recall (though the memory is now a bit hazy) it was September, and we were surprised by snow and cold. Somehow we ended up in one of the tents at the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, keeping warm by using the little wood stove in the tent, and eating in the dining hall.

As I got older my interests turned to backpacking (and eventually cross-country skiing, some winter camping, and even a bit of rock climbing) and I regarded these camps, even those in the back-country, as being sissy-fied versions of the real thing. But at the same time, I began to develop an appreciation for the back-country history that they connect to in a real and physical way, and also through some of the employees who have worked these places for years or even decades.

In any case, on this August morning my friends and I broke camp a bit to the west of Bearpaw meadow and started hiking. When we got here, even though we are all confirmed back-country types, we couldn’t resist stopping at the main tent and having a look around. The woman inside invited us in. Two of my friends were astonished to find a place like this on the trail that they decided to sit down and order glasses of wine (at the mid-morning hour!) just because they could.

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Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Mono Lake, Thunderstorm

September 14, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Eastern Sierra Nevada thunderstorms build over Mono Lake, Mono Craters, and Lee Vining, California.

Mono Lake can be an unforgiving place in which to try to make photographs during the day, but sometimes one gets lucky! It is a wonderful place, but if you only know it from photographs – which, of course, tend to be made at the most appealing times – you might not know that it is often hot and hazy and dry during the day. These are among the reasons that it is a place often photographed at dawn or at sunset on days when the clouds are interesting. (The latter poses its own set of problems, since the Sierra Nevada range begins to block the light well before actual sunset.)

But I did get lucky on this late July afternoon. It was thunderstorm weather, so there were some very impressive clouds floating around. However, the clouds did not completely fill the sky, so patches of light were moving across the landscape – in this photograph one illuminates the green area at far right along the shore and, more importantly, the Mono Craters beyond the far shore of the lake. And the vegetation around the lake was still green, or at least green enough to look alive in this light.

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

Granite and Trees, Olmsted Point

September 12, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Lone trees stand among glacial erratics on granite slabs near Olmsted Point as evening light strikes Clouds Rest and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park.

This photograph was made near the popular and iconic Olmsted Point along Tioga Pass Road (highway 120) across the Sierra through Yosemite National Park. The spot is a short walk from the busy parking lot, but even this five or ten minute stroll was enough to get me some relative solitude on this summer evening.

The combination of close granite slabs, glacial erratics lying about, more distant domes and peaks, and a few scattered trees says “Yosemite” to me in ways that are more true than even the iconic scenes from The Valley. Almost every area of the high country was shaped by glaciers, and all of these things are a direct result of that origin. Another thing that I like about this photograph, ironically, is that there is really nothing all that special about it! There are a few high, thin clouds – but no towering thunderheads. The light is warming as the end of the day approaches – but this is not yet prime golden hour light. And although at least one icon appears in the scene, it is not even the dominant feature.

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