Category Archives: Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon

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

Alpine Lake, Storm, and Rainbow

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Alpine Lake, Storm, and Rainbow
A trail crosses a rise beyond an alpine lake as rain begins and a rainbow appears against stormy skies, Kings Canyon National Park.

Alpine Lake, Storm, and Rainbow. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A trail crosses a rise beyond an alpine lake as rain begins and a rainbow appears against stormy skies, Kings Canyon National Park.

This photograph comes from a wonderful trip into the Kings Canyon backcountry seven summers ago. A group of five photographers who have been doing such things for almost twenty years (I’ve been going along for a decade) packed in to a remote location at 12,000′ and set up a basecamp. We spent a week there photographing the heck out of the nearby landscape of granite, lakes, and peaks — and enjoying the camaraderie that comes from working together in the wilderness.

By the time I made this photograph I had settled thoroughly into the routines of living and photographing in such a place. I’ve often photographed while hiking through the Sierra, but working from a base-camp gives me time to explore more carefully, to get to know the character of a place, and to experience it in a variety of conditions. Although it was the tail-end of a drought season, we had rain from time to time, and on this afternoon I photographed an area full of lakes as the afternoon showers arrived.

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 and Amazon.

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

Sierra Showers

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Sierra Showers
Afternoon thundershower clouds reflected in the surface of a raindrop-dappled alpine lake, Kings Canyon National Park.

Sierra Showers. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Afternoon thundershower clouds reflected in the surface of a raindrop-dappled alpine lake, Kings Canyon National Park.

As I was getting ready to post this photograph I was pondering, as usual, what to write about it. As I considered the focus of what I ended up writing here today it occurred to me that this one photograph could be the starting point for an entire book. (Don’t worry, I’ll keep this post considerably shorter than that.) It could naturally lead to subjects including my visits and return visits to certain locations in the Sierra, the experience of spending long periods in the backcountry, what and how to see there, the sensory experiences of things like afternoon rain, how non-iconic subjects evoke these things, my good fortune in photographing the backcountry in the company of good friends during the last decade, and much more…

But that’s far too much for this post, so I’ll just share a little background. A group of five of us isolated ourselves at a very high backcountry location for a week back in 2013. We photographed morning and evening every day, in very diverse conditions, and we hung out together through the slower midday hours. There were many lakes nearby, and on this afternoon I had walked the short distance to one of them and was photographing when the afternoon showers began. For me, this photograph conjures up all of the associations I have with that trip and with afternoons like this one.

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 and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Pandemia, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Urban/Street

The Back Door

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The Back Door
The rear entrance to a local market.

The Back Door. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The rear entrance to a local market.

So, can we imagine that this is the, uh, “urban wilderness?” It does contains some relatively very wild areas, and there is wildlife of a sort. If you look around carefully enough at the right time you can find a degree of solitude.

This is a back entrance to a grocery store, photographed across a deserted parking lot. Someone has abandoned their cart next to the door, perhaps expecting the store employees to discover it there and reclaim it.

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 and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

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

Lake, Mountains, Evening Light

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Lake, Mountains, Evening Light
Evening light over a small alpine lake and tall mountains deep in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, Sequoia National Park.

Lake, Mountains, Evening Light. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light over a small alpine lake and tall mountains deep in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, Sequoia National Park.

This photograph takes me way back, almost a decade ago, to a long Southern Sierra pack trip with a great group of fiends. We came in over a high Sierra crest pass, then a couple of days later crossed an even higher pass (that doesn’t cross the crest), and dropped into some of my favorite Sierra Nevada backcountry in a place where we walked for miles through broken and rocky terrain before finally descending to the first trees we had seen since early that morning. We camped, and the next day we headed further into the backcountry, to an area where far fewer backpackers are found.

I made this photograph in a truly magical place where we camped that night. It was one of the few spots I’ve been to in the range where I could almost imagine that I was camping in a spot that no one had previously visited. (I know better, but it was isolated enough to feel that way.) We saw no one other than the members of our own little group fo three that day, that night, and into the next morning. This evening photograph looks across a small alpine lake toward a towering and rugged range that is not, despite its appearance, the Sierra crest.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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