Tag Archives: afternoon

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Urban/Street

Twilight in the Urban Forest

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Twilight in the Urban Forest

Twilight in the Urban Forest. San Jose, California. January 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees and the side of an office building are illuminated by evening light reflected from the windows of a nearby building.

There is more than meets the eye in this photograph, and even when you think you have figured out why there is more than meets the eye I think there will still be more that you may not yet have noticed. I’ll continue to be enigmatic and say that “all is not what it seems in this photograph.” :-)

I will say that I made the photograph while wandering around downtown San Jose, California on an “urban photo walk” over the weekend, hunting for interesting street and urban images. This and all the photos I made that afternoon and evening were made in traditional “street” style using a 35mm prime.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: afternoon, building, california, city, county, downtown, evening, san jose, santa clara, urban, tree, forest, reflection, shadow, building, office, windows, side, sidewalk, plant, evening, golden hour, stock, illusion, twilight

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Evening, Tenaya Lake, From Near Olmsted Point

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Evening, Tenaya Lake, From Near Olmsted Point

Evening, Tenaya Lake, From Near Olmsted Point. Yosemite National Park, California. September 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of early evening light on Tenaya Lake and surrounding valley and peaks as viewed from near Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park, California.

On this late summer evening I had just hiked out from a three-day backcountry photography pack trip, driven over Tioga Pass to grab a bit at Tioga Pass Resort, and was starting my drive home from the park. I happened to pass by Olmsted Point (where I don’t stop all that often these days) just as the sun was getting read to drop behind the ridge to the west of the point. To my mind, this is just about the most beautiful time of day at this spot, especially as the low angle sun illuminates rocks in the Olmsted Point area and begins to leave the valley holding Tenaya Lake. To make a long story short, I spent 30-45 minutes photographing here before heading home, and I make a few exposures of Tenaya just as the last light was hitting some of the nearby trees in the foreground.

keywords: black and white, early, evening, afternoon, tenaya, lake, olmsted, point, yosemite, national park, california, usa, tree, rock, forest, boulder, dome, peak, mountain, ridge, cloud, conness, tioga, road, pass, tuolumne, meadows, scenic, landscape, travel, stock, shadow

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Subalpine Lakes, Afternoon Showers

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“Subalpine Lakes, Afternoon Showers” — Sun breaks through the clouds to illuminate lakes and surrounding meadows in a valley near Mammoth Lakes, California

This is an older shot that I recently realized has not yet been posted here. There is a bit of an ironic story behind it. A few days earlier some friends and I had started on a 14-day backpack trip along a long section of the John Muir Trail. (It included the one remaining short section that I have not hiked!) After about four days on the trail we arrived at Purple Lake, a bit south of Mammoth, where I began to feel a bit under the weather. Because the next portion of the hike was across a section of the JMT that doesn’t provide many quick exits in case of emergency, I decided that I would evaluate my condition the next morning before continuing.

I still didn’t feel great when I awoke so I regretfully left my group and backtracked towards Duck Pass to exit to Mammoth Lakes and head home. It was only due to this situation I found myself descending this trail below Duck Pass in wonderful weather of mixed thundershowers alternating with bursts of sunlight — which put me in the right place at the right time to see this beautiful scene as sunlight and rain alternately swept across these lakes.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Hitchcock Lakes

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High Lakes, Trail Crest
Terrain to the west of Whitney Trail Crest

Hitchcock Lakes from the Mt. Whitney Trail. Sequoia National Park, California. August 11, 2008. © Copyright 2008 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hitchcock Lakes seen from the Mt. Whitney Trail.

I climbed Mount Whitney – again – on August 11, 2008 after crossing the Sierra Nevada from west to east on Sequoia National Park’s High Sierra Trail. I’ve been to the summit a couple times in the past. Last year I swore I would not climb this peak again, mainly because there are so many other beautiful things to see in the Sierra and I didn’t feel a strong need to do this again. But my friends proposed a trip that concluded with the Whitney ascent, and I couldn’t say no.

A traditional starting point for ascents from the west is Guitar Lake, a small – and often somewhat crowded – little lake in a truly alpine setting just above timberline. From here the trail ascends the valley containing these lakes, leading to the junction with the trail from the east side just before reaching the ridge, and then a lateral trail traverses out to the summit of Whitney.

It won’t surprise anyone if I say that there are some wonderful panoramas to be seen from almost any point on this climb. One of my favorite is this view back across the valley from which the trail ascended and towards high elevation Hitchcock Lakes and the ridge between them and the Crabtree Basin beyond.

(Oddly, I often find the summit view to be photographically uninspiring, and I usually end up just making some “record” photos there and a perfunctory pano or two.)

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.