Category Archives: Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snag and Talus Field

February 4, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An old snag stands atop a rocky outcropping and in front of a huge talus field, Kings Canyon National Park

During our mid-September 9-day expedition into the Sierra Nevada high country of Kings Canyon National Park we spent the better part of a week camped in this 11,000′ basin full of lakes and trees and rocks. We camped near the outlet stream of a lake located in a narrow section of the valley, with many more lakes beyond our location and a string of them ascending the valley to our south. Each day, from early morning until after dark, was largely spent exploring this landscape and making photographs.

The valley of lakes to our south, of which our lake was the lowest, was plainly visible to us from our camp site, which was situated on a rise above this lowest lake. From here we could look up the canyon across “our lake” and see a string of several other lakes along this creek. A few were easy to see while others further up the valley revealed themselves primarily by surrounding rock and by breaks in the vegetation. Every day, no matter what else we were doing and where else we photographed, we did at least some work around these closest lakes, and I developed a sort of “daily rounds” taking me up one side of the valley to the upper lake and then back down the other, with occasional detours across the middle of the valley. Is I recall, I was making one of those detours when I photographed this tree, located on top of a small rocky knoll in the middle of the upper valley and backed by the tremendous talus field descending from the surrounding ridges high above.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Subalpine Forest, Morning Light

February 3, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on the trees of a subalpine forest in the high country of Kings Canyon National Park

During September 2013 four photographers spent nine days in a remote backcountry area of Kings Canyon National Park, camped at 11,000′ in a beautiful lake-filled basin and spending our days exploring and photographing the surrounding area. Being there for such a long time, we had opportunities to photograph in diverse light and weather conditions, and to return to subjects more than once.

Nearby there was a large subalpine bowl with a dozen or more lakes ranging from quite large to mere tarns. We made the 15 minute walk to this spectacular location many times. We photographed in evening rain, in overcast, in brilliant afternoon light, and in the early morning. I made this photograph on one of those mornings. I had begun very early, when the sun had not yet risen. At first I photographed in the blue-tinted early light, and then I began to chase the light/shade boundary as it crossed the lakes and surrounding terrain. Eventually the sun rose high enough that nearly everything was in the sun, with the exception of a few glades right up against steep slopes. I decided to head back to camp by skirting the shady side of the bowl, and I photographed this beautiful stand of trees backed by rising hills and more distant forest as I began this walk.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Mammoth Peak Reflected in Tioga Tarn

May 30, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 6 Comments

Mammoth Peak in sunset light, reflected in the still surface of Tioga Tarn, Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park.

This view of Mammoth Peak on Kuna Crest in the Yosemite High Country from the Tioga Tarns at the top of Tioga Pass is a classic Sierra Nevada scene. The foreground tarns are lush green in the early summer after the snow melts out and fall into shadow early in the evening as the sun drops behind the ridge between this area and Gaylor Lakes. Mammoth Peak, however, has an almost unobstructed line of sight to the west, so this peak continues to hold the sunset light until the last possible minute. (Don’t let the peaceful appearance of the scene fool you – I was being devoured by clouds of mosquitos as I made these exposures.)

In order to deal with the extremely large dynamic range between the Mammoth Peak snow fields in direct sun and the very dark shadows of the nearby forest I resorted to exposure blending and a few other post-processing techniques. With exposure blending, I make two exposures, one optimized for the brightest areas of the scene and the second a slightly longer exposure to capture a bit more of the shadow detail. In post I began with the darker frame, since that presented Mammoth Peak the way I remembered it. Then I placed to other exposure beneath it and used a mask layer to reveal some of the lighter areas from the lower layer.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon

Bare Aspen Trunks and Fallen Leaves

October 9, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The white trunks of nearly leafless aspen trees with fallen leaves below, Bishop Creek, California.

While the brilliant fall colors of the eastern Sierra aspens are an obvious attraction, I also like the bare, white trunks that begin to appear more clearly as the leaves fall. In fact, in some ways I prefer them as a subject to the leave. While I can’t stop myself from shooting those incredible colors, at some point they almost seem to produce a sort of visual overload. But the light-colored trunks, ranging from stout older trees to delicate and twisting small trees, especially against a background of rocks, fallen leaves, or the clutter of the forest have their own magic.

This is a scene from no special place – it is a just a spot along a road that I passed over more than once. I had shot in the general area earlier, but only noticed this as I passed by again on this cloudy and misty morning when the softer light allowed more of the details to appear and the slight rain brought out the colors a bit more.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon

Snag and Talus Field

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Subalpine Forest, Morning Light

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Mammoth Peak Reflected in Tioga Tarn

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Bare Aspen Trunks and Fallen Leaves

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

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