Tag Archives: afternoon

Round Valley Cottonwood Trees

Round Valley Cottonwood Trees
Round Valley Cottonwood Trees

Round Valley Cottonwood Trees. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 6, 2014. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn cottonwood trees beneath the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, Round Valley

I’ve long been captivated by this area at the base of the Sierra Nevada’s eastern escarpment not far from the town of Bishop, California. As you drive south near here you descend a very long grade toward Bishop, and at the bottom of the grade the route crosses a very large valley where the eastern edge of the range seems to retreat far to the west, and a broad valley rises from the lowlands towards much higher peaks. But along the northern edge of this valley the escarpment lives up to its name and is quite sudden and steep.

The valley seems agricultural, with cattle often grazing on the grasslands among the large cottonwood trees. In the late afternoon, and especially in fall when the trees change colors, the backlight coming over the crest lights the trees from behind and from the right point of view they can stand dramatically against the shadowed eastern slopes of the range.


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.
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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.

Spillway Lake

Spillway Lake
Spillway Lake

Spillway Lake. Sierra Nevada, California. September 18, 2015. © Copyright 2005 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Afternoon light on Spillway Lake in the Yosemite backcountry

Although it was a bit more than nine years ago, I remember this hike very well. I had a free afternoon, so I decided to hike out to a familiar Sierra Crest pass that I had visited before, but along the way I chose to take a detour up past the lake see in the photograph. This route followed a trail along a small, singing creek that topped out in a fairly level subalpine meadow that surrounded the lake, and the last bit of the hike was on open, smooth ground. I paused at the lake, stopping at some rocks on near the small peninsula visible near the lower part of the image to eat a snack, drink some water, and quietly take in the scene.

The trail to the lake ends here, but the route up across open terrain to a nearby pass was fairly obvious in this country, so I simply passed along the edge of the lake and then headed up toward the wide saddle. It wasn’t long before I arrived there, and after my visit to the pass I started back down along the trial that came to the pass from another nearby drainage. I traversed a high ridge and had a good clear view back down to “my” lake, now far below and luminous in the afternoon light and backed by the tall dark hill with talus slope above leading to a higher ridge.


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.
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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.

Gate Latch and Padlock

Gate Latch and Padlock
Gate Latch and Padlock

Gate Latch and Padlock. Pasadena, California. November 28, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon sun on a fence with a gate latch and lock

We were in Southern California on a family holiday vacation in late November, and on the day after Thanksgiving we decided to “go do something” other than sitting around and digesting the previous day’s dinner. We planned a get-together with family/friends way up in Pasadena and the Southern Californians suggested the Huntington Library (and gardens and museums), which we had not visited before — so off we went.

We did not know what to expect from this place, but soon realized what a large and diverse and interesting facility it is. There are a number of museums on the huge grounds of the former Huntington estate, a few of which we visited (including one housing an intriguing Caponigro/Davidson exhibit), places to eat and drink, and many gardens — Chinese, Japanese, desert, and more. We walked through the Japanese garden that the start of the beautiful light time of the afternoon, when the late season sun was low in the sky and producing soft, warm light as it shone through trees and bushes on this small gate.


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.
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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.

Photographer David Hoffman

Photographer David Hoffman
Photographer David Hoffman

Photographer David Hoffman. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 21, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographer David Hoffman works the late afternoon canyon light at Capitol Reef National Park

Capitol Reef National Park is, of course, a spectacular place to make photographs, with a wide variety of potential subjects ranging from the obvious icons to things that are possibly not as immediately obvious. I’ve had the good fortune to photograph there on perhaps four occasions now. Each time I visit I discover new aspects of the park that I had not previously known. My first visit was largely to the popular and accessible tourist areas near the Fruita district. A second visit took me to another side of the park over gravel roads. A third visit went beyond those roads to investigate some less known areas that required some advance knowledge and hiking.

The fourth visit was a bit different from each of the others. After photographing alone elsewhere in Utah, and before meeting some other photographers to “work” a more remote area, Dave and I met up for a few days in Capitol Reef. Since it was his first visit to the place, we combined photography of some accessible areas with visits to a few of the areas that are a bit more off the beaten track, and we visited some of the familiar areas at odd times when few others were there. Here, Dave is photographing the rocks and walls of one of the many canyons in the park.


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 | FacebookGoogle+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.