Category Archives: Photographs: Northern California

Photographs from Northern California

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

Tree, Reflecting Puddles After Rain

December 13, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small pine grows from a crack at the end of a small rainwater pool reflecting golden morning light from overhead mountains

Among those who have visited this place, the small tree in this photo has perhaps become almost iconic — though, in truth, if you look you can find such trees all over the high Sierra. Each seems to me, upon reflection, to be a bit of a small miracle. Like this one, they often manage to grow in incredibly challenging circumstances. In addition to the usual stresses of the high country, these trees found themselves sprouting in a world of almost unbroken granite, perhaps finding barely enough water and soil in small cracks or shallow rainwater pools to get get started, but then constrained by these conditions to lives of very slow growth and a marginal existence. I missed it, but a friend who was there with me pointed out that this is actually a mature tree, producing seed-bearing cones and likely quite old.

The location is such that the tree is in shadow for a long time in the morning. I have photographed it at other times of day when the light is “better,” but I also like soft shade light and thought I’d give it a shot. Above and beyond this slab and the tree there are higher granite walls, and they catch the morning sun — and from just the right angles that golden glow is reflected in the pools around the tree, here filled by rain from the previous day.

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

High Desert Aspens, Autumn

December 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yellow and orange autumn aspen trees in the high desert terrain of the eastern Sierra Nevada

My “discovery” of Sierra Nevada aspen trees has gone through a number of phases. I was first aware of these trees many years ago, early in my backpacking career, when I frequently encountered the trees and their fluttering leaves along backcountry trails. (To this day, when I think of the green trees, one of the first places that comes to mind is a humble little thicket along the trail to Cathedral Lakes.) It was not until much later, believe it or not, that I made the connection between these trees and the color show that they put on for us in the fall. Perhaps this was because my orientation to the Sierra was from the west side (rather than the east, where the most spectacular aspen displays are arguably located) and because I rarely visited the range during aspen color season, instead going almost exclusively in summer (for camping, hiking, backpacking, and occasional climbing) or winter (for cross-country skiing.)

Perhaps fifteen or twenty years ago I had my first introduction to the “east side.” I know that sounds crazy, especially for someone who has loved the Sierra for a lot longer than that, but somehow it worked out that way. On the bright side, I had the opportunity to discover a whole new aspect of the Sierra at a relatively later point in my life. After “discovering” the precipitous east side of the range, it wasn’t a big step to expand my season a bit to include late September and October, which eventually became my favorite times to be in the range — for aspens of course, but also for beautiful fall weather and the occasional early season storm. More recently, after perhaps a decade of heavy focus on the eastern Sierra aspens each fall, I have begun to turn my eyes further east, to the color along the base of the range and in the mountains to the east of the Sierra, where the trees often grow in spare, dry surroundings.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite, Post-processing Workflow

Trees, Granite Slabs, Morning Light

December 10, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Trees scattered along granite slabs are backlit by morning light, Yosemite National Park

I am a complete sucker for scenes with scattered trees, separated enough to allow light to pass, that are backlit by morning or evening sun. Among my photographs, they are a bit of a theme, or so I’ve been told, but they are also almost an icon of the Sierra for me. When I think of the term “range of light,” it is most often this light that comes to mind. I know that I’ve always been intrigued by light that makes the atmosphere glow, is so bright that it is hard to look into it.

Early on this morning I began by making a bee line for this rounded granite ridge at the top of a large system of sloping slabs above the lake where we were camped. Initially I was thinking of the location as a place from which to photograph distant subjects in a different direction, but once at this high point, with the sun spilling brilliant light my direction after having just topped the farther ridge, I turned my attention to these trees and rocks, backed by luminous haze and more granite, tree-covered slopes leading toward a higher ridge.

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

Cascades, Tuolumne River

December 9, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Tuolumne River crosses cascades past rain-dampened granite to begin its descent into the Tuolumne River Canyon

We had some “interesting” and somewhat surprising weather on this early September back-county Yosemite visit. We were out for nearly ten days, and before hitting the trail many of us had been following long-range weather forecasts. As photographers, we were actually hoping for some “interesting” weather, but nothing appeared to be coming our way. A few days from the end of the trip, as we moved from one location to another, we were surprised to find ourselves under a huge plume of wildfire smoke, which we later found out came from the “Meadow” fire that quickly burned out of control in a somewhat different area of the park.

That evening we were in camp after dark, sitting around and talking and doing the usual camp stuff, when we were completely surprised by a flash of lightning in the sky to our southeast. Since we had not seen anything remotely suggesting rain or thunderstorms earlier in the day we weren’t quite sure what to make of this… but within a short time we started to pick up some rain. Overnight we all had plenty of opportunities to hear rain pattering on the roofs of our tents. When we awoke the next morning, a decent amount of rain had fallen, and there were still clouds around. It turned out that the rains continued off and on through them middle of the day. Between showers we headed out to make photographs, and as one shower approached a couple of us headed back to camp. Topping a ridge on a shortcut route, we had a clear view of the rocky terrain through which the Tuolumne River cascades into the upper Tuolumne Canyon, with the rocks still wet from the rain.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Northern California

Tree, Reflecting Puddles After Rain

High Desert Aspens, Autumn

Trees, Granite Slabs, Morning Light

Cascades, Tuolumne River

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