Category Archives: Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Island, Peninsula, Reflected Clouds

June 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The waters of Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay reflect early morning sky and clouds and silhouette Fannette Island

I have a long relationship with Lake Tahoe… but very few photographs of the place. When I first began cross-country skiing many years ago — before much of anyone knew about the sport on the west coast — I most often went to Tahoe, skiing the many accessible areas of relatively easy terrain. Later, as the sport developed and dedicated cross-country ski areas began to appear, some of my favorites were in this area. This past weekend, when we had occasion to visit the lake again, it suddenly hit me that I had barely been there at all in the past decade, and that I have almost no photographs of the place.

As I usually do, on one of my mornings at the lake this past weekend, I got up at 5:00 AM and was out the door as the sky was beginning to become light but well before sunrise. As I drove south down the west side of the lake there was a cloud bank above the mountains to the east side of the lake, and initially the light was not spectacular. Eventually, not far from Emerald Bay, beams of light began to penetrate the clouds and the alternating areas of light and shadow moved across the landscape of the west shore. I stopped at a spot that would likely not seem special to most passing by, and made some photographs of the forest as this light back-lit the trees. I drove on, stopping briefly at the Emerald Bay overlook to see the view but not really thinking about photographing here. I continued south and explored a few side areas, filing away a few locations for later shooting, and then turned back to the north, with the plan of getting back to our lodging to join the late-sleepers for breakfast. As I descended toward the inner curve of Emerald Bay I saw the deep blue water, the far edge of the lake in haze, and clouds reflected in the surface of the Bay next to Fannette Island.

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

Ridgeline, Trees, Winter Fog

June 19, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A winter fog obscures trees along a ridgeline high above Yosemite Valley

It may be surprising to hear that this is a color photograph. Well, the camera thought so, but you cannot easily tell by looking at the image. I was shooting another nearby subject, or perhaps waiting for that subject to some light that would make it more “photographable,” when I looked up to see this fog enveloping the high tree-covered ridges above this part of Yosemite Valley, with the atmosphere gently glowing in the backlight.

The photograph is a reminder for me that it is often better to see what you can make of the conditions you find than to lament that the conditions are not what you hoped for. (OK, you can go ahead a lament a little bit—i think that is normal!) While I often go to a place perhaps expecting or hoping for particular conditions, I’ve learned that quite often the most interesting opportunities are not those that we can predict but those that surprise us or those that we find. If the atmosphere of the place, apart from your initial notions of how it might be photographed, is something that attracts you, then it must be possible to make some kind of effective photograph of that thing that you like. You might be hoping for colorful sunset light, but you know—or at least I hope you do!—that a foggy evening, or a rainy evening, or even a hazy evening of soft light can be a wonderful thing, too.

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

Swirling Clouds, Winter

June 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter evening clouds swirl around Yosemite Valley

I have had this photograph sitting here for a few months now, and I just “rediscovered” it while skimming through a collection of photographs from earlier this year. This was not a year with much of a winter in California and the Sierra, but during a brief window late in the season we did get some weather that felt seasonal. We were in Yosemite Valley near the beginning of March and had some time to wander around. I love winter fog in The Valley, so we were unable to resist going and photographing it.

The photograph is, of course, from the famous and iconic Tunnel View overlook. As I recall it now, a few months later, we had made a more or less snap decision in the evening about where to go, and when we saw the conditions that could bring the common winter Valley fog we headed up to this obvious location. When this fog drifts in the Valley it can be almost endlessly entertaining… if you are into such things, and I am. The fog can appear spontaneously as the temperature of the damp air drops. Or clouds may begin to drift up the valley and through the trees. Or perhaps a giant fog cloud sort of sloshes back and forth across the Valley in slow motion, occasionally seeming to rise up along the sides of the cliffs and peaks. At one point on this evening the fog quickly moved in our direction, and instead of looking off through the clear air to see it in the distance, within moments it silently came over us and hid the view of the Valley.

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

Cascade, Boulders

June 1, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A seasonal waterfall cascades past granite boulders, Yosemite National Park

I guess I’ll go ahead and make this a “waterfall weekend” by posting a second photograph of the same little cascading creek that was featured in yesterday’s photograph. This small beauty is a seasonal cascade that is right next to the roadway—I’m definitely not taking any “wilderness photography” credit for this one. (Though the character if the creek is very similar to and remiss me of many such rocky creeks found in less accessible locations.) As is the case with some many such small creeks, this one comes and goes quickly in most years. It does not necessarily dry up completely, but it often diminishes to an unimpressive trickle later on.

Although the accessible location makes photographing this fall easy, there are still a few challenges. Perhaps the most mundane is that, given that one is photographing from the shoulder of a highway, you have to watch out for passing vehicles! From a photographic perspective there are a few more interesting challenges. One is that of composition. This section of the waterfall is some distance above the camera position, and there are only a few clean shots of it. I wanted some of the curving and flowing shapes at the top along with the faster moving, and hence narrower, section at the bottom, and I wanted to include the blocky, wet, and reflective rocks. The light is a bit tricky here, too. Fortunately, the cascade remains in shadow well after sunrise, but the best light seems to come at just about the moment when the sun starts to rise above the ridge behind the fall. Consequently, though it isn’t visible in this tightly cropped composition, I was shooting almost straight into the sun!

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Island, Peninsula, Reflected Clouds

Ridgeline, Trees, Winter Fog

Swirling Clouds, Winter

Cascade, Boulders

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