Category Archives: Photographs: Yosemite

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

Two Trees, River, Fog

November 2, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Colorful trees on the banks of the Merced River on a foggy autumn morning

I remember the first time I discovered the magic of an autumn rain storm in Yosemite some years ago. I had gone there to photograph fall color — I was mainly thinking of dogwood trees back then — and I was camping. But then it rained. For three days straight. And it rained hard. I was equipped to camp in the rain but perhaps not fully equipped to photograph in such conditions, but I faked it (using a had to shield the camera, for example) and went to work. And I found some special Yosemite magic in the combination of fall colors, rising river levels, resurging waterfalls awakening from end-of-summer slumber, and the beauty of clouds and fog.

I encountered just a bit of that during this year’s brief end-of-October visit to Yosemite. On my way up there from the San Francisco Bay Area the rain poured on me. It mostly stopped when I left Oakhurst, but then there was fog and beautiful light all the way into the park. I made this photograph then next morning in the Valley. I arrived in time to catch the end of the post-rain morning fog, and I quickly went to a spot I know along the Merced, where I found the river had risen dramatically, all the w

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

Burned Forest, Autumn Color

November 1, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn colors in a forest of burned trees, Yosemite Valley

During this final weekend of October I spent a few days photographing in the Yosemite area, including along the road between Oakhurst and the Valley and then in Yosemite Valley itself. I had quite varied weather conditions — pouring rain on the first day as I drove up from the Bay Area, beautiful evening and morning fog followed by a sunny autumn day, and then a weather forecast of heavy rain that convinced me to beat a retreat from the park a day early.

Late on the second afternoon I stopped at a very popular and iconic location in the Valley, but I walked the other way, heading out into an area of rock, dry meadow and oak trees that gradually transitioned into conifer trees and big leaf maples, the latter being at their peak of fall color. Knowing the Valley pretty well at this point, I often prefer to look past the big sights and just wander, and that’s what I did here, eventually ending up in an area that had been burned recently by a management fire, clearing out the underbrush and charring the lower trunks of tall trees. In fact, the lower trunks were so affected that there were no branches to obstruct the view of the maples just beyond or of the vertical granite cliffs a bit further away.

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

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

Two Small Trees, Autumn Fog

October 31, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A few autumn maple trees are scattered in a Yosemite National Park forest on a foggy morning

I admit it. I got distracted. This past week I had reason to visit Oakhurst, California, just below the southern boundary of Yosemite National Park. I drove up there in tremendous rain, had my meeting, and then headed to The Valley for a few hours of photography. As I drove up from Oakhurst the forest was wet and fog was everywhere — perhaps the ideal conditions for all color — but I kept driving, wanting to get to the Valley before the light was gone. At one spot inside the park I caught a glimpse of a bright yellow big leaf maple tree in a small gully leading away from the road, but I did not stop.

I was back in Oakhurst that night, and then up very early the next morning with a plan to arrive in the Valley again by daybreak. I headed up from town again, but once again there was fog, though less of it. Three things I cannot resist are autumn color, fog, and forests — so when I passed this spot again I quickly decided to turn around and come back to make some photographs. This is a complex photograph, the opposite of the minimalist images I like to produce (see some recent Mono Lake photographs for examples), but that is the nature of forest scenes like this — they are an utterly harmonious whole created out of a very complex set of components. And, even better, they are mysterious and quiet and still.

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

Evening Shadows, Sierra Crest

October 7, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Mountain shadows on the Sierra Crest at sunset, Yosemite National Park

Earlier I had photographed in the large meadows along the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne, just below Tioga Pass, continuing to work until the sun dropped behind the long and tall ridge to the west. As I walked back toward my vehicle through the soft light of the shadows, the surrounding peaks were still in full sun. I started thinking about putting a very long lens on the camera and photographing the last light when if finally got to these peaks and ridges.

It took a while! This meadow area loses the light early, so even though I lingered there after the direct sun was gone, I still had quite a while to wait before sunset. The intense coloration of the arctic zone peaks comes from two sources. This section of the Sierra is topped by much older rocks — not granite but very reddish-brownish rocks. By the time I made this photograph the sun was very close to the horizon and the color of the light had warmed considerable, adding even more intense color to the rocks. (Inspecting the image file very closely I learned something new — there is a faint trail traversing the upper slopes of the ridge at the left!)

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Yosemite

Two Trees, River, Fog

Burned Forest, Autumn Color

Two Small Trees, Autumn Fog

Evening Shadows, Sierra Crest

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