Five Sequoias, Mariposa Grove. Yosemite National Park, California. June 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
The massive trunks of five giant sequoia trees in soft afternoon light, Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park.
Believe it or not, as much of the Sierra as I’ve visited, it has been (many) decades since I last visited the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias near Wawona in the southern area of Yosemite National Park. How many decades may shock you – if I recall correctly, it was when I was a child and my family visited. I’m pretty certain that we actually drove through the old “tunnel tree” before it fell. Since then I have visited other Sierra redwood groves but not nearly often enough. I was reminded of this last summer on a return drive from a southern Sierra pack trip took me though Sequoia National Park. I had forgotten the impact of traveling through a “normal” forest of large Sierra trees and coming upon the stupendous and massive red brown towers of these magnificent trees.
With this in the back of my mind – and the weather being more conducive to shooting in the forest than to shooting grand open landscapes – I decided to detour to Mariposa at the end of my weekend shoot in and around Yosemite. First, I found out – the somewhat hard way – that things have changed since my childhood visit. I naively drove to the road leading to the grove only to be met by the nice people in the international orange vests who informed me that there was no parking and that I’d have to drive back to Wawona, park my car, and take the free shuttle. Ah, well, probably for the best. So I joined the throngs on the shuttle system and returned to the grove. By this point my time was somewhat limited since the final return shuttle was scheduled to leave barely and hour and a half later, so I hoisted my camera pack and put my tripod on my shoulder and started up the well used trail, ultimately getting a bit past the “Grizzly Tree” before turning back. Despite the tremendous number of tourists joining me on this trail – many from places all around the globe – I was able to find some photographs in the afternoon light softened by partly cloudy skies.
This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
keywords: redwood, Sequoiadendron giganteum, sierra, nevada, sequoia, tree, trunk, base, bark, grove, forest, mariposa, vertical, massive, wellingtonia, wawona, afternoon, light, diffused, floor, moss, travel, scenic, landscape, nature, foliage, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, stock, burn, fire, scar, brown, spring
Perfect lighting… something not always so common with the canopies in places like these (though more importantly, perfect use of that lighting) curious what this might look like in B&W. And, (though I can’t for the life of me think of “what”), wish there were something there to give me some scale. They look to be imense (sp).
Thanks, Jeff. Believe it or not, I think it was almost more the light than the trees that interested me when I made this photograph – not that the light would have been nearly as interesting on a less compelling subject! It was a day with special lighting conditions – the area is on a slopes that face the afternoon light and although it was earlier in the day than I might usually think of shooting such a subject, there was a high, thin overcast that softened the light quite a bit. I set up a composition in this grove of five large trees knowing that the light would vary between too bright and too overcast… and I waited. Your point about scale is interesting, and there are perhaps several answers to it. Since you said that they “look to be immense,” it may be that nothing else is needed! In fact, I tried to exclude as much of the surrounding subjects as possible. However, in a print – though not in the small jpg I can post here – I think that the text of some of the green branches and needles might provide that scale.
Thanks for posting!
Dan