Category Archives: Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Branches and Clouds, Merced River

Branches and Clouds, Merced River
Branches and clouds reflected in the surface of the Merced River

Branches and Clouds, Merced River. Yosemite National Park, California. November 4, 2007. © Copyright 2007 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Branches and clouds reflected in the surface of the Merced River

This photograph was taken along the shore of the Merced River near the “housekeeping” camp along the south side of the Valley. I had wandered over here to photograph a tree on the opposite bank that had dropped an interesting bunch of colorful leaves. (That photograph turned out to be, I’ll be honest, boring… ;-) As I got ready to take down the tripod and leave I noticed this interesting bunch of partially submerged branches along the waterline.

I recently (May 2015) reworked this photograph, and I like the newer interpretation quite a bit more than the original. Here there are “three worlds” in the photograph — the solid material of the branches and their crisp reflections in the water, the barely visible branches beneath the water’s surface, and the very light reflections of sky and thing clouds.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Glacier Point View, Morning

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Glacier Point View, Morning. Yosemite National Park, California. November 4, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

A photograph from a series I made during a recent pre-dawn visit to Glacier Point in early November. The light was, of course, beautiful. I can strongly recommend an autumn visit to this location and at this hour. While Glacier Point is frequently a very busy place, crawling with tourists, there were only four of us there on this morning – and we got to enjoy the rare and wonderful experience of quietly enjoying dawn over the Sierra from a truly astonishing vantage point.

(A few practical issues: Check before going there this time of year; it won’t be long before winter snowfall closes the road to Glacier Point to all but hardy cross-country skiers. And, if you do go, dress warmly!)

Base of Vernal Fall, Autumn

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Base of Vernal Fall, Autumn. Yosemite National Park, California. October 26, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell

This photograph was made (as you may have noticed from the date) in autumn of a pretty dry year. For this reason I was able to approach the base of the falls much more closely than would be possible in other years or during the waterfall season. (Even if you did manage to get this close in, say, June you wouldn’t see anything but a solid wall of mist.)

(Unfortunately, due to long-ago server software updates, this photograph no longer appears on this page.)


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