Category Archives: Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Oak Among Pines

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An Oak Among the Pines

Oak Among Pines. Yosemite Valley, California. November 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary oak with autumn foliage against the backdrop of a dense pine forest in Yosemite Valley near El Capitan Meadow.

As I was photographing the brilliant fall colors of meadow and oak trees in El Capitan Meadow in early November I noticed this solitary oak apart from the other oaks, along the edge of the meadow and with a recently-burned pine forest behind it.

Update: Someone pointed out that these “recently-burned” trees look pretty darn healthy and wondered what I meant. If you look closely you can see that the bases of the trees are, in fact, scorched. In Yosemite National Park, a “fire management” policy is pursued in place of a “fire suppression” policy. Decades ago fire in the forest was regarded as a bad thing and the enemy of healthy forests. More recently it has become apparent that fire is actually part of the life of a healthy forest – and that letting a forest go too long without fire is actually a very bad thing.

This has been proven in many places, including Yosemite. Several very destructive fires have almost completely destroyed some forest areas that were too long “protected” from fire – and as a result the excessive fuel that built up led to tremendously hot and destructive fires that completely killed off old trees. In a healthy forest, the more typical fire may burn the ground plants – many of which are adapted to recover quickly – but it rarely is hot enough to kill off the old, large trees.

Recognizing this, the park service now allows most natural fires to take their natural course, sometimes burning slowly (with supervision and “management”) for weeks or months. Fires are intentionally set in The Valley for this same purpose, and the result is very healthy forests like the one seen behind the oak tree – bearing some signs of past low level fires, but otherwise in very good shape.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cliff and Fog Near Glacier Point

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Cliff and Fog Near Glacier Point

Cliff and Fog Near Glacier Point. Yosemite Valley, California. November 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fog shrouded arete on the cliffs of Yosemite Valley near Glacier Point.

This bit of fog shrouded cliff is on the south side of Yosemite Valley a bit west of Glacier Point. While I was busy shooting similar conditions across the Valley at upper Yosemite Falls I happened to look over my shoulder and see this ridge barely breaking through the light rain and fog on this rather wet November morning. For the most part the arete was completely obscured, but as the wind moved the clouds around the rocky face the rocks and trees of this bit of ridge emerged from time to time – so it was a matter of setting up a likely composition and then waiting for an interesting bit of rock and vegetation to appear.

keywords: cliff, face, arete, tree, ridge, mountain, fog, cloud, mist, glacier point, yosemite, valley, national park, obscure, nature, scenic, travel, landscape, atmosphere, weather, rain, sierra, nevada, california, usa, stock, black and white

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Oaks in Rain, El Capitan Meadow

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Autumn Oaks in Rain, El Capitan Meadow

Autumn Oaks in Rain, El Capitan Meadow. Yosemite Valley, California. November 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brightly colored autumn oak trees in El Capitan Meadow with fog shrouded cliff face of Cathedral Rocks beyond – Yosemite Valley, California.

El Capitan Meadow, beneath the face of El Capitan and across the Valley from Cathedral Rocks (see in beyond the trees in this photo) is one of my favorite spots in the Valley. The meadow itself is beautiful in almost any season – green and lush in spring, colorful in fall, and sometimes snow covered in winter – and the backdrop formed by any of several large nearby rock faces is impressive. I shoot here every time I’m in the Valley – even last winter when I had to hike across this narrow section of the Valley in snow to get there.

In this early November photograph the trees are in full fall color and the meadow grasses and plants have gone dormant – and fog hugs the face of Cathedral Rocks in light rain.

keywords: oak, black, tree, fall, autumn, color, leaf, leaves, gold, yellow, fog, mist, rain, el, capitan, meadow, grass, plant, branch, forest, grove, nature, yosemite, valley, national park, california, usa, stock, scenic, travel, landscape, cliff, mountain, cathedral, rocks

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Yosemite Falls, Autumn Rain

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Yosemite Falls, Autumn Rain

Yosemite Falls, Autumn Rain. Yosemite Valley, California. November 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Yosemite Falls and Valley meadow and forest in an autumn rain storm.

Another photograph from my rainy early-November weekend in Yosemite Valley. On Saturday the storm was coming in and as the day wore on the rain increased. As I photographed the nearly leafless trees in the meadows in sight of Yosemite Falls, the rain increased to the point that the Falls were almost completely obscured, although the rain also created a wonderful misty atmosphere and muted the fall colors.

A note about shooting in the rain… I foolishly removed my umbrella from my bag before I left on this trip. What was I thinking?! A good umbrella may be almost your most important piece of photographic equipment when shooting in conditions like these. Instead I ended up using an alternative set of strategies. (I did try to find an umbrella at the Yosemite Village store… but I couldn’t bring myself to buy a souvenir umbrella with big bear footprints all over it. :-) I have a nice Goretex rain hat that almost exactly covers my 5D and my lenses, so the main plan was to get everything set up and ready to shoot and then put the hat on top. While the tripod got wet the camera stayed reasonably dry – well, OK, not too wet. A little moisture on the outside of the camera body doesn’t concern me too much, though these conditions were such that I had to be pretty careful and use a towel on the camera and lens every time I returned to the car.

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.

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