Category Archives: Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon

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

Lakeshore, Evening

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Lakeshore, Evening
A few sunset clouds reflected in the quiet surface of a backcountry Sierra Nevada lake.

Lakeshore, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A few sunset clouds reflected in the quiet surface of a backcountry Sierra Nevada lake.

Periodically I find myself going back to my archives and looking through older photographs, typically images that I made years ago and sort of left behind as I went on to work on newer things. These reviews often have a couple of wonderful consequences. Often I rediscover a photograph that I had originally neglected, perhaps because it worked in a different way than what I originally imagined or possibly because I wasn’t patient enough at the time. The distance provided by a few years of time often allows me to see the image in ways I missed at first. In addition, these older photograph bring back wonderful memories — of the subjects, for sure, but also of the trips themselves and the people I traveled with.

I made this photograph on a long southern Sierra backcountry trip with a group of long-time backcountry buddies — folks I have backpacked with many times over the years. On this trip we were down to our core group of four, and we traveled into one of the highest, alpine regions of the range, into the upper Kern River drainage of Sequoia National Park. Those who know this region won’t be surprised to hear that we had to cross several very high passes, that we were out for over a week, and that we got into places where we saw very few other visitors. I made the photograph on a lovely, lazy evening, near a lake we ended up at almost by accident — a place that turned out to be utterly scenic, extremely quiet, and almost devoid of visible signs of humans.

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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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

Tree, Lake, Reflected Mountains

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Tree, Lake, Reflected Mountains
A solitary tree, subalpine meadows, lake, and reflection of Sierra Nevada peaks

Tree, Lake, Reflected Mountains. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary tree, subalpine meadows, lake, and reflection of Sierra Nevada peaks

For this photograph I again travel back almost a full year, to a late summer photographic adventure into the High Sierra with a group of friends. We had much of our bulky and heavy equipment packed into this remote spot, though we carried our photographic equipment in on our backs. We remained here for about a week, with lots of time to explore and photograph the surrounding landscape.

The closest feature of interest was the meadow holding this subalpine lake. (We camped behind my camera position and on a rise that kept us out of the meadow. ) Early and late in the day the light around this lake could be beautiful, and I made this photograph in the morning while the water was still and the light slanted in from the east and left dramatic shadows on the landscape.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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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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

Rock-Filled Tarn

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Rock-Filled Tarn
Tarn on Chagoopa Plateau

Rock-Filled Tarn. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tarn on Chagoopa Plateau

This photograph is a decade old, though it has sat in my raw file archive for that entire period. As we hiked through this area on a trans-Sierra pack trip via the High Sierra trail we crossed the edge of this remarkable seasonable lake, nearly filled with a pavement of broken rocks. The location is fairly remote — essentially more or less half way between the west-side sequoia groves and Mount Whitney on the east side.

When I originally looked at this file after the trip, something appealed to me about it but I could never quite figure out how to post-process it. (I won’t go into details here, but I was using an older version of digital photography technology, and the light was a bit unusual in this location.) I never did come up with a color rendition of the scene that pleased me. Finally, a decade later, it dawned on me that it might work as a monochrome image, both because of the strong shapes of the foreground rocks and because black and white permits more modification and control during the post-processing (what used to be called the darkroom) phase.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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

Stream Crossing, High Sierra Trail

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The High Sierra Trail fords a small stream, Sequoia National Park

Stream Crossing, High Sierra Trail. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The High Sierra Trail fords a small stream, Sequoia National Park

The things that stick in one’s mind on Sierra pack trips are sometimes inexplicable. This trip, a nine-day adventure crossing the Sierra Nevada on the High Sierra trail, took us over some spectacular terrain and to remarkable places, including the summit of Mount Whitney at the end of the trip. Yet, for some reason, I stopped to photograph this little section of trail, and I specifically remember doing so.

Perhaps the water crossing the trail caught my attention, though that is not exactly an uncommon thing in this range. Maybe it was the very green foliage growing next to the water. That is somewhat special in a mountain range that is mostly fairly dry, and in a location that was between one dry valley and a dry ridge. The view up the trail interests me, too — you can’t really see what lies beyond those trees but you can see the light there.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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