Evening Shadows, Meadow and Forest

Evening Shadows, Meadow and Forest
Long evening shadows cross a boulder-flled subalpine Sierra Nevada meadow

Evening Shadows, Meadow and Forest. Yosemite National Park, California. July 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Long evening shadows cross a boulder-flled subalpine Sierra Nevada meadow

I love the evening light in this giant subalpine meadow — and probably in just about any such place in the Sierra. But this one is large and open to the sun from the west, so in the right places the light sticks around a while and eventually trees cast long shadows across many of the open areas.

Earlier in the day there had been a threat of weather, and thunderstorms were beginning to dissipate at sundown. I wandered the edges of the meadow a bit, enjoying the remaining clouds and thinking about how I could photograph this warm evening light. All of the layers (except the river!) are in this little scene: the meadow itself, the old boulders set in the meadow and poking up to catch a bit of light, the long shadows, the forest on the hills beyond, and finally the evening sky.


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 and Amazon.
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Passing Car

Passing Car
A car speeds past, Manhattan

Passing Car. New York City. July 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A car speeds past, Manhattan

There is perhaps not a whole lot to write about this photograph, but here goes. My initial thought was of a photograph that included only buildings and street, with the perspective lines heading away to converge at the lighter towers in the distant center of the frame. I hoped that the pedestrians might be in the center or near two it as they passed by in the cross walk.

But photographing such a scene in any city, and perhaps especially in Manhattan, is a tricky thing. Obvious, I had to be in the street myself, which meant that I was crossing on the green light and pausing just long enough to make a photograph or two. This meant that I did not have much time to wait for the perfect conjunction of moving elements and… there was this car.


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 and Amazon.
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Two Domes, Evening

Two Domes, Evening
Evening light on granite domes, meadows, and forest, Yosemite National Park

Two Domes, Evening. Yosemite National Park, California. July 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on granite domes, meadows, and forest, Yosemite National Park

As always when staying in and around Tuolumne Meadows — though this time I had to drive in from a more distant campground — I was out in the meadows as evening approached. The campground was still closed due to late-melting winter snows, so there were even fewer than usual people out enjoying the late-day light and benign clouds floating overhead.

As I walked through the meadow I enjoyed the constantly changing landscape and patterns of clouds and sunlight moved across the forest, meadow, and mountains. From moment to moment the light changed significantly enough to almost create new landscapes. At the moment of this photograph the main subject was actually darkened a bit by the shadow of a passing cloud — perhaps giving it a more ominous appearance — but the light was bright on the smaller, more distant dome and on the meadow and forest at the base of the dome.


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

Smile

Smile
Central Park skaters, Manhattan

Smile. Central Park, New York City. July 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Central Park skaters, Manhattan

From what I’ve seen, New York’s Central Park in the summer is a hotbed for just about every kind of activity you can imagine. (New Yorkers are welcome to roll their eyes and say, “Duh. Californians!”) Folks are doing the loop on bicycles, there are picnickers all over the place, tourists wander about, you can stop and eat at food carts or restaurants, folks are working on their tans, and more.

I’m not usually a fan of noisy music in public places, so when we heard loud (disco!) music coming from nearby I was at first mildly annoyed. Then I decided to go take a look. What I found was wonderful: a sort of spontaneous, free-flowing, street dance on skates with all kinds of folks, from the skaters to those of us observing, just having a great time.


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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | LinkedIn | Email


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

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