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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
Sunlight illuminates submerged boulders near the cliff face at a lake on the High Sierra Trail – Sequioa National Park.
I first visited this lake decades ago during a two-week trans-Sierra backpack trip along the High Sierra Trail. I recall arriving and recognizing it from a well-known 1932 Ansel Adams photograph, but I made no serious attempt to photograph it at the time. In the summer of 2008 I retraced the route with a group of friends, and on the third morning I again climbed the spectacular trail toward Kaweah Gap. After crossing a lovely section filled with springs, flowing water, and wildflowers the trail topped a rise and suddenly arrived at this lake. I spent a half hour or more photographing from the shoreline. Finally I finished, packed up my photography gear, and we started up the switchbacks toward the pass.
A moment later as the trail climbed above the lake I glanced back and saw a stunning sight as sun broke through the clouds and intermittently illuminated the submerged talus at the base of the cliffs. Ironically, my first reaction was to think, I just finished shooting, and I’m not going to take this pack off and set up all that gear again!” I almost kept going. Fortunately, I’ve learned my lesson a few times — shoot it now while you have the chance! — so I dropped my pack, set up my tripod and camera, and waited for the right light to appear as broken clouds moved overhead.
This photograph was originally titled “Submerged Boulders, Precipice Lake”
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Black and white photograph of the snag that is all that remains of the tree in Ansel Adam’s famous photograph from the summit of Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park
This is all that remains of the Jeffrey Pine atop Sentinel Dome that was the subject of the famous Ansel Adams photograph. Somewhere I even have my early attempts at trying to do the “Ansel Adams thing” with my black and white film camera when I was much younger — one or more photographs of this very tree, while it was still alive.
I photographed this close-up “portrait” many years after the tree died, while on a quick hike over to the summit of Sentinel Dome along the Glacier Point Road. Things changes slowly in the Sierra, but they do change. This is now, objectively speaking, another dead snag atop a Yosemite granite dome — however, this snag has achieved a sort of iconic status. Yet, perhaps there will eventually be another, maybe even the younger tree seen in the background beyond the dead stump.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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