Photographs: Yosemite

Tioga Pass at Sunset (August 6, 2005)

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TiogaTarnSunset2005|08|06: Sunset at Tioga Pass. Yosemite National Park. August 6, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
Tioga Pass Tarn at Sunset. Yosemite National Park. August 6, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I came over Tioga Pass last Saturday during the hour before sunset. I planned to re-take a picture of a small tarn below the parking lot at the pass. After completing that shot I happened to look behind me and saw the light on the distant peak over a different tarn.

I quickly moved the tripod and took a series of photos. This is a combination of two exposures, one set for the shaded foreground lake and the other for the distant ridge and sky.

(A tarn is a small, shallow alpine lake filled with snowmelt water, sometimes with no outlet stream.)

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Photographs: White Mountains

White Mountains Ridge

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WhiteMountainRidge2005|08|06: Ridge. White Mountains. August 6, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
Ridge. White Mountains. July 6, 2005. © Copyright Dan Mitchell.

Last Saturday I found myself with a free day in the town of Bishop in California’s Owens Valley east of the Sierra Nevada. I decided to follow the road up into the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest high in the White Mountains, the next range east of the Sierras.

I drove as far as the highest grove at over 11,000 feet, something like 12 miles out on a narrow dirt track. The road continues another four miles to a locked gate, beyond which are UC research facilities including one at the top of 14,000+ White Mountain.

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Photographs: Owens Valley

Pastures Near Bishop, California

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BishopPasture2005|08|06: Pastures and Eastern Sierra Nevada near Bishop. August 6, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Pastures and Eastern Sierra. Bishop, California. August 6, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

There were thunderstorms up and down the eastern Sierra on this late August afternoon.

A little story about getting this photo: I had spent the day up in the White Mountains visiting and photographing the famous Bristlecone Pines. It had been a long day – longer than expected – and I had finally made my way back to Owens Valley to begin the long drive back to the San Francisco Bay area. I had done so much photography already that I was feeling burned out when I saw this lovely light in the pasture area just north of Bishop. I almost drove right past it, but at the last minute took a quick exit from the highway and drove off onto a side road where I found this wonderful scene.

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