Category Archives: Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Moonset, Eastern Sierra

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Moonset, Eastern Sierra
The autumn moon sets above the eastern Sierra Nevada crest as dawn light comes to the sky

Moonset, Eastern Sierra. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The autumn moon sets above the eastern Sierra Nevada crest as dawn light comes to the sky.

Late in the season I was between summer backpacking/camping trips and autumn color photography in the Eastern Sierra. The time was mid-September, a couple of weeks before I would typically be looking for fall color out here. I had been camping up near the crest above Lee Vining and poking around in various places looking for photographs — for example, I had spend some time around Mono Lake the previous day. I was in that mental space between summer and fall, and I was using some of my time to do a bit of reconnaissance in preparation for a return a few weeks later.

I got up very early on this morning and in the darkness I headed out to the east of the Sierra, not quite certain where I would end up. Driving along a somewhat lonely two-lane road, I spotted an interesting looking gravel side road heading toward a ridge that I had previously viewed from another angle, noting that there were some aspen trees out that way. On a hunch I turned off, engaged 4WD, and drove out on a road that eventually followed close to the ridge line. I soon came to a thick grove of short aspens and I was quite surprised to see them already (mid September!) nearing peak fall color. Eventually I took a smaller side road and soon came to an overlook, where I got out in the pre-dawn light (quickly realizing that it was really, really cold here!) and set about making some photographs of the groves of aspens and conifer forests leading toward the eastern escarpment of the Sierra with the setting full moon above.

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: Sierra Nevada

Fractured Rock and Lichen

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Fractured Rock and Lichen
Yellow lichen grows on fractured, terraced rocks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Fractured Rock and Lichen. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Yellow lichen grows on fractured, terraced rocks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

I had been camped within walking distance of this feature for the better part of a week before I spent time photographing it. Oddly, I had walked right past it as we hiked in to our base camp, and I had apparently not even looked up to see it. It is a long section of granite-like rock that runs along the shoreline of a lake, and because the rocks are high enough the spot retains soft, shaded light well into the morning. While it isn’t a dramatic, iconic sort of location, a closer look revealed lots of intimate details worth photographing.

This section of fractured blocks intrigued me for several reasons. The shapes themselves hint at geological processes about which I can only speculate — lots of linear and crossing fractures that gradually eroded to leave a stair step sort of structure. The rock itself is covered in places with some vividly colorful lichen, and small plants grow in cracks where water is apparently available. The color of the scene is a bit unusual, in that the bluish tones come from reflected sky, which produces a large portion of the illumination here.

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: Sierra Nevada

Forest and Granite, Reflections

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Forest and Granite, Reflections
Trees of a sparse forest on rocky ground, reflected in the surface of a subalpine lake

Forest and Granite, Reflections. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees of a sparse forest on rocky ground, reflected in the surface of a subalpine lake.

Yes, I am still mining the work from our late-summer week in the John Muir Wilderness, during which five of us base-camped and photographed the heck out of the surrounding area. That pleasant late-summer days seem far away now during the cold season. (You can bet that these subjects look a lot different at the moment!) Yet as soon as I look at them it all comes right back to me… and I start thinking about the next trip to such a place.

I made this photograph late in the day after walking up to this rocky little basin, full of lakes and thin forest and surrounded by talus slopes leading up toward the Sierra Nevada crest. The specific location is a small bay extending to one side of a larger lake. The main lake was largely rock bound, with a huge cliff at its upper end. But this side bay was more gentle, surrounded by more level terrain and forest, and protected from wind. Late in the day the shadows from the nearby peaks blocked the sun, and I photographed the trees and rocks on the opposite shoreline in soft light.

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.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Colorful Rocks, Lichen

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Colorful Rocks, Lichen
A shadowed rock face with red lichen

Colorful Rocks, Lichen. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A shadowed rock face with red lichen

This photograph looks at some details that might be easy to overlook. The rock face was located along a trail we walked on our way to our base camp for nearly a week of Sierra Nevada backcountry photography, and we ended up camping perhaps a half mile from this spot. Most of my focus was on higher terrain, but later during our visit I found the time to walk down-canyon to this spot and photograph this wall.

Several things were striking about this feature. From a personal perspective, I was surprised that I had completely ignore such an interesting source of intimate landscapes when I walked past it the first time. Now, as I revisited it, I realized that the light here was quite special, with some reflections from bright, high peaks across the valley, and additional light coming from the blue sky, with both sources filling in soft light. Here and there small plants found a foothold in cracks, and colorful lichens, ranging from intense reds and oranges through bright greens and yellows grew on the face.

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.

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