Category Archives: Photographs: Yosemite

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

Cathedral Range

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Cathedral Range
“Cathedral Range” — The distant Cathedral Range rises above Yosemite high country forests and meadows under evening clouds.

This was the scene late in the day during my early July visit to the High Sierra near Tuolumne Meadows and just east of Yosemite National Park. In the right light, this can be my favorite time of day — the sun Is nearing the horizon and the light is softening and turning golden, and shadows stretch across the landscape. I made the photograph next to a high country meadow that opens to a view of the distant Cathedral Range.

The Cathedral Range has a unique personality. It is not on the Sierra Crest, but instead runs more or less northwest to southeast between the the Tuolumne and Merced Rivers. It rises from mostly forested country to culminate in open granite terrain, with some summits that escaped glaciation and are rugged and steep.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

The Old Oak Tree

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The Old Oak Tree
“The Old Oak Tree” — An old oak tree with autumn foliage, Yosemite Valley.

While this big oak tree grows in a meadow filled with scores of other beautiful oaks, it presents a different appearance than its neighbors. The other trees, perhaps because many of them grow close together, tend to be somewhat tall and slender. But this tree is massive, with thick trunk and main branches, and it spreads widely — enough so that it is as wide as it is tall.

One of Yosemite Valley’s monumental granite faces rises nearby behind this tree and its neighbors. Because that face is tall and to the south, its shadow falls across the trees for hours every day. I photographing it after the late-day shadow had arrived, which gives a softness to the image that would not be there in full sunlight.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Flowers

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Autumn Flowers
“Autumn Flowers” — Autumn flowers scattered across a Yosemite Valley meadow.

The fall colors brought me to Yosemite Valley for a few days at the end of October. But autumn there isn’t just abut those colors — everything about the place is different during this season. The Valley seems to slow down and mellow out, and I sense that winter is just around the corner, even on a warm, sunny day like this one.

There’s a lot going on in this photograph, and it was a challenge to incorporate all of these elements. Right in front of the camera we see the golden-brown meadow, dotted with white flowers . The forest begins beyond that, with deciduous trees close to the Merced River and then large groves of conifers. In the distance, we see several of the famous Yosemite Valley granite cliffs, with details muted by haze and bright late-afternoon sun.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Flow #2

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Autumn Flow #2
“Autumn Flow #2” — The surface of the Merced River, broken by boulders, reflects golden fall colors from nearby trees.

This is a companion image to another photograph that includes some the same rocks but in vertical/portrait orientation. The scene is an otherwise unremarkable section of the Merced River in Yosemite Valley that probably doesn’t merit a stop from most visitors to the Valley. (Though quite a few park photographers have stopped to make images in this general area.) The appeal is the combination of rocks (at least during periods of low flow in the river), the patterns of moving water, and reflections.

Speaking of reflections, they are the source of the warm colors in the water. They include the light on a very large sunlit cliff on the far side of the valley and the colors of autumn leaves in the forest on the opposite river bank. To notice a scene like this you have to look past what your eyes likely want to see (water and rocks) to see the intense color reflected in the water.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.