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

Last Light, Yosemite Backcountry

October 2, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Final evening light on the face of a granite dome in the Yosemite National Park backcountry

As I have mentioned previously while sharing this set of photographs from my early September Yosemite backcountry photography, the particular ridge from which I made this photograph drew me back repeatedly. I climbed it to photograph in the early morning and late in the evening, and in conditions ranging from clear to hazy to scattered clouds. While the larger scene might be regarded as “typical Sierra,” it was possible to juxtapose and pick out all sorts of interesting elements, and the changing light transformed this landscape in surprisingly striking ways.

This was a particularly beautiful evening, and the light and landscape offered up many possibilities over the time I was there — from very late afternoon right on past the sunset. This was one of my final exposures of the evening, and the very last beams of red sunset light were coming up the canyon from the west after passing through a lot of low-level atmospheric haze in order to softly illuminate the edges of the granite slopes along the top of the near ridge as the rest of the scene was already falling into “blue hour” light.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Morning Musings

Important Yosemite Anniversary (Morning Musings 10/1/14)

October 1, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

G Dan and Richard Mitchell in Yosemite, date unknown — Richard Mitchell (left) and G Dan Mitchell (right) in Yosemite, date unknown

October 1, 2014 marks the 124 year anniversary of the creation of Yosemite National Park on this day in 1890. To quote from a park web page:

“In 1889, John Muir, America’s most famous and influential naturalist and conservationist, and Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of Century Magazine, had growing concerns about the devastating effects of sheep grazing in the high country. They launched a successful campaign to persuade Congress to set aside this area as a national park in 1890. On October 1, 1890, the U.S. Congress set aside more than 1,500 square miles of reserved forest lands, soon to be known as Yosemite National Park.”

(The first federal protections came earlier, on June 30, 1864 when President Abraham Lincoln signed a congressional act that established the “Yosemite Grant” in the Sierra Nevada — the first instance of the US government setting aside land specifically for preservation and public use, though not yet technically a “national park.”)

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the “Yosemite Grant” signing, I wrote a post about my own experience in the park, which includes a bit of my photographic history in the place, including a childhood photograph of me and my brother Richard Mitchell at a park trailhead many years ago, the earliest Yosemite photograph of mine, and a few later shots from the park. Enjoy!

Morning Musings are somewhat irregular posts in which I write about whatever is on my mind at the moment — and the subjects may not always concern photography.

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

Trees and Peninsula, Morning Light

October 1, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light shines on trees growing on a rocky lakeshore peninsula

On many mornings during our photography expedition into the northern Yosemite backcountry, various of us found ourselves photographing this lovely little rock peninsula, with its well-shaped trees. In fact, at times I found myself looking to photograph here… only to find that one of my friends was on the rocks and photographing these elements close up — and who could blame them. In fact, of the three exposures of the island I made within a few minutes on this morning before heading off around the lake, I think that there are other photographers in two of them! Fortunately, this one seemed to have the right combination of light and form.

The peninsula and its trees are only part of the story here. There are reflections, of course, though I composed the image to minimize them to some extent. And there is the beautiful backlight fringing the needs of the trees, an element that I find hard to resist. I’m also interested in the more distant and higher granite slopes in the far background, on which sparse and thinning trees ascend toward an unseen ridge. The same light that backlights the near trees, also backlights the trees on the granite slopes, and it also lights the atmospheric haze enough to soften the features of this mountain.

Morning Musings

‘Ello Ello (Morning Musings 9/30/14)

September 30, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

There’s a new kid on the block in social media land, and it is called Ello. I just signed up, and if you are an Ello member you can find and friend me at ello.co/gdanmitchell.

So, what is the deal with Ello? I’m certain that I don’t understand all of the ramifications yet, and I’m still coming up to speed on the process of determining how it works, the best ways to use it, and its goals. Here are a few brief comments based on what I’ve seen so far.

A deep and important underlying concern for users of existing social media networks has to do with how information about all of us is being used — basically, everything we post and view is the subject of data mining by services like Facebook, and at times the whole thing can become just a bit scary. Part of the premise of Ello is that it will not follow this path and that it will be open about how it operates. *
It is reasonable to ask how that will play out in the long run, as those who were early adopters of other systems such as Facebook recall that their goals also seemed entirely altruistic at first, and then they changed. I think that it is worth the “risk” to be in on the ground floor of something like Ello that is getting quite a bit of buzz and which may offer an alternative.
Ello seems to have a goal of simplifying and streamlining the process of sharing and interacting with others.
There are rough edges at this point, but Ello is also still in beta.

You can visit the Ello site and take a look for yourself — and while you are there you can apply to be part of the beta.

Note that I used the word “premise” here. I understand that other services, including Facebook, that originally appeared to have very altruistic goals, eventually changed those goals in ways that are not so wonderful for end-users.

**“La Sirena” has not yet been shared elsewhere. I made the photograph on September 28 while visiting a place in the Carmel Highlands that is important in the history of American photography.

Morning Musings are somewhat irregular posts in which I write about whatever is on my mind at the moment.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Last Light, Yosemite Backcountry

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Important Yosemite Anniversary (Morning Musings 10/1/14)

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Trees and Peninsula, Morning Light

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‘Ello Ello (Morning Musings 9/30/14)

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

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