Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Reflection, Topsy Turvy Lake

August 15, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Golden evening light from surrounding peaks reflects from the surface of rock-studded Topsy Turvy Lake.

This is my first photograph from my early August “backpack trip that almost didn’t happen but somehow worked out in the end.” Originally we had planned a week-long excursion into the far reaches of the upper Kern river drainage in the heart of the Sierra Nevada. However, for a variety of reasons those plans began to collapse a couple weeks before the trip – so three of us salvaged a shorter trip into the Sabrina Basin area above Bishop, California. Then, the night before this trip – while I was packing! – I cracked a tooth. At that point I thought that the trip was off for sure, but my dentist agreed to see me the next morning. By noon I had a temporary dental fix in place and I completed last-minute packing and other business and was on the road at 2:30, arriving to meet my hiking partners at Four Jeffrey Campground above Bishop at 9:00 p.m.

On top of all that, the Sierra weather forecast included the possibility of snow, in the form of an autumn-like weather system passing across the northern portion of the range. Undaunted – but equipped with a bit more cold weather gear than we might usually carry in August – we headed up to Blue Lake on the first day and then moved on to Topsy Turvy lake on day two. While it never did snow, it was very windy and quite cold on the first two nights.

This photograph of rock-filled Topsy Turvy Lake was made in the early evening when the light had already left the lake’s surface but was still illuminating the ridge to the east and creating striking and colorful reflections in the lake’s surface.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

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Site News

Server is back online… I hope

August 14, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Issues at my hosting company – apparently not their fault – took this site (and email to my accounts at this domain) offline for several hours today. Thanks for your patience as they worked to resolve this. If you had problems sending me email, please try again – I’ll be watching for delayed messages throughout the rest of the afternoon.

(There are still a few “issues” around this whole incident – hopefully they will be worked out before long. Saturday update: In contrast to another hosting company I used to use, the current one is doing a good job with this issue. That includes sharing with me information about what happened and what steps are being taken and when.)

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Sunset, Mount Conness and Lower Young Lake

August 14, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Mount Conness and the shoreline meadow of Lower Young Lake at sunset.

The thin smoke from a wildfire some miles away along the Tuolumne River added some color to the sunset light on the distant ridge whose highest point is Mt. Conness, the tallest peak in along the Yosemite Park border north and west of Tioga Pass. I’ve shot from this spot along the upper shoreline of Lower Young Lake before, in fact the rock along the shoreline was the center point of another photograph I made one misty autumn evening. But this was a different evening; not only because of the somewhat unusual color of the light but also because the small inlet stream was still flowing through the shoreline meadows that still held wildflowers.

On my way back to my tent as darkness fell, I had one of those wonderful serendipitous experiences that happens with surprising frequency in the Sierra. Walking back I happened to take a different route further from the shoreline since that area was quite marshy. As I wandered through a more forested section that I had not been in for a couple years I passed very close to someone’s campsite, and I soon saw two people ahead sitting on a large boulder. I stopped to say “hi” and the older of the two asked, “Are you a photographer?” I offered one of my all-too-frequent wise guy responses, something along the lines of “No, I just like to carry this stuff around so that I look like one.” He looked a bit perplexed, at which point the younger of the two spoke up and said, “Well, he is.”

Turns out that he was photographer Leonard Sussman, and we ended up talking for a good amount of time as the light continued to fade. Leonard is a really interesting fellow, and I was surprised to find out that a “New York photographer” actually came more or less from my stomping grounds in northern California.

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: mount, conness, mountain, peak, ridge, young, lake, lower, sierra, nevada, range, evening, dusk, sunset, high, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, landscape, nature, rock, tree, stream, reflection, forest, boulder, shoreline

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Lodgepole Pine Forest, Morning, Lower Young Lake

August 13, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light illuminates dense lodgepole pine forest near the edge of Lower Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

As hard as it is to crawl out of a warm sleeping bag on a cool morning, I managed to do it on this morning. Just as the sun was coming up I was wandering along the shoreline of Lower Young Lake. While I made some photographs of the lake itself, I ended up becoming most interested in the area around the outflow stream. It features a rocky trail crossing of the stream, a small open area of meadow, and very thick surrounding forest. I thought I’d try another in my recent series of very dense and detailed composition here, this one including a thick stand of lodgepole pines just as the sun rose high enough to begin to cast some light on the forest floor.

(To be honest, I’m pretty certain that this one is going to work far better as a large print than as a small jpg… but there you go! )

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: pinus contorta, lodgepole, tamarack, pine, forest, tree, boulder, rock, log, branch, needle, trunk, twist, flora, grass, flower, plant, morning, light, dense, vegetation, lower, young, lake, yosemite, national park, california, usa, intimate, landscape, scenic, travel, nature, hike, backpack, camp, stock

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