Category Archives: Photographs: Yosemite

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

Evening Sky, Meadow and Mountains

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Evening Sky, Meadow and Mountains
“Evening Sky, Meadow and Mountains” — Remnants of afternoon clouds dissipate at sunset above Yosemite mountains and meadow.

This is a view I’ve known for many decades, looking across Tuolumne Meadows toward peaks in the area of Mount Conness. Tuolumne was where I had my first experience with the “High Sierra” many years ago, when my Dad took us there for a camping trip — and an aborted attempt at backpacking. (I think he always wanted to backpack. I recall that he acquired various pieces of fascinating gear. But I also recall that, for whatever reason, several times he came close to heading out on the trail only to call it off at the last minute.)

The photograph comes from that wonderful early summer period when the meadows are still green and lush… but no longer so wet that they often are more lake than land. I’ve backpacked to, around, and over that distant ridge too many times to remember them all. That isn’t just a line of anonymous ridges and peaks to me — it brings back memories of many backcountry trips… including one memorable cross-country adventure across a portion of it!

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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

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

Moss-Covered Trees

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Moss-Covered Trees
Moss-covered trees in a Sierra Nevada forest in Yosemite National Park.

Moss-Covered Trees. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Moss-covered trees in a Sierra Nevada forest in Yosemite National Park.

Some of my photographs are the result of long hikes into inaccessible places, hours or days spent searching out the ideal location, visits to places I’ve never been before, and other similar efforts. This is not one of those. I made this photograph on a drive to the Sierra while passing though a portion of Yosemite where most of us don’t pay a lot of attention to our surroundings, the kind of place where we are usually thinking more about where we are going than about where we are.

I think it was the green moss on the trees that caught my attention, along with the soft and shaded light. I found a pull-out along this section of roadway, grabbed camera and tripod, and wandered off into this bit of forest, where the relatively clear undergrowth opened the view through the trees.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Rock Islands, Alpine Lake

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Rock Islands, Alpine Lake
Boulders form small islands near the shoreline of a Sierra Nevada alpine lake.

Rock Islands, Alpine Lake. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Boulders form small islands near the shoreline of a Sierra Nevada alpine lake.

I made this photograph on a beautiful evening in a favorite Yosemite backcountry location featuring a small string of three sub-alpine lakes. The lowest is surrounded by forest, but this upper lake sits in a wide-open bowl at timberline and facing the western sky. This makes it a place of astonishingly colorful evening and sunset light when the conditions align.

As is my usual pattern, I had camped at the lower lake before wandering to the upper lake late in the day, planning to photograph along the shoreline. In fact I had in mind a particular treat that I wanted as my subject. After making a few pictures of it I headed out around the lake, where I made this photograph of “boulder islands” along the shoreline just as golden hour was beginning.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

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

Sierra Crest, Blue Hour

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“Sierra Crest, Blue Hour” — Evening lenticular clouds over the Sierra crest and the Tuolumne River.

This is a reinterpretation of an old photograph, one that has long been a favorite but which I’m now looking at differently. Several issues surround the question of whether, when, and how to revise a photograph that you once considered definitive. The most obvious change is the aspect ratio — it formerly used the ubiquitous 4:3 ratio, but now I think it works better with this semi-panoramic presentation. (The old version lost the far right ridge and trees.) I’ve also rethought how I handle the blue tones — when I originally did the photograph I was shy about “going with the blue,” but more recently I’ve embraced it.

All of that background aside, this is a favorite photograph for a bunch of reasons. This was an incredible afternoon and evening of sky and light, and this was one of the final photographs of that day, made in the fading blue hour light. It still astonishes me that perhaps thousands of people were clustered around their campfires in a nearby campground, likely oblivious to this scene, as I stood in solitude along the bank of the river watching the show.

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

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