Tag Archives: alpine

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

The Crossing

Image Leave a comment
The Crossing
A Sierra Nevada backcountry trail crosses the outlet stream of a subalpine lake.

The Crossing. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Sierra Nevada backcountry trail crosses the outlet stream of a subalpine lake.

I pondered whether or not this photograph should make it from raw file stage to finished work, but finally decided to go ahead and share it. It is a bit of a hard scene to make sense of, at least if you aren’t somewhat familiar with such places already — more on that in a moment. In the end, something about it “works” for me, so I’ve decided to go ahead and share.

The spot is perhaps no more special that thousands of similar places in the Sierra. But, in a way, that is what makes it special — such little intimate landscapes are everywhere and they form the identity of the range, more, I think, than impressive and iconic peaks. Once you get into the Sierra it is, fundamentally, an intimate landscape. You walk along narrow trails, though forests or meadows or rock fields, and cross streams, step around boulders, listen to the sound of your own footsteps and perhaps your trekking poles clattering on rock. Here the scene is from the season when everything slows down near the end of summer. This little spot was brilliantly green, with higher water and wildflowers only weeks earlier, but by this point in late September it has gone yellow and brown and winter snows are just around the corner.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Talus And Reflecting Water

Image Leave a comment
Talus And Reflecting Water
Giant talus boulders above reflecting waters of an alpine lake

Talus And Reflecting Water. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Giant talus boulders above reflecting waters of an alpine lake

This is another in a series of photographs I made this past summer that feature raw talus fields (possibly with a lake at the base) in blue early morning or evening shade. For some reason this subject seemed to catch my attention this summer on our almost-annual week in the Sierra backcountry — perhaps because this time our base camp was at a high lake situated at the base of a gigantic field of talus descending from the ridge right above us, and because one of the higher lakes I visited several times also featured impressive talus fields.

This photograph comes from that upper lake, which I had hiked to late in the day in order to photograph a different subject before the last light left the shoreline. Having completed that work — and having lost the direct sun — I turned by attention to the far side of this lake, and inhospitable looking landscape of shattered and tumbled rocks and boulders at the base of a cliff at the edge of the lake. At this time of day, in this light, the colors shift strongly toward blue, since the scene is mostly illuminated by the open blue sky plus a bit of light reflected from nearby peaks. The scene evokes for me a whole series of associations and memories based on decades of travel in the high country — the hollow, clattering sound of foot travel on the loose rocks, the sensation of the rocks shifting beneath my feet, the cold air, and the near complete lack of vegetation other than a bit of lichen.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Talus, Reflection

Image Leave a comment
Talus, Reflection
A talus field of large boulders meets the shoreline of an alpine lake

Talus, Reflection. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A talus field of large boulders meets the shoreline of an alpine lake

And, yes, another “going with the blue” photograph of talus boulders. It is, I admit, turning into a bit of a theme among my photographs from the September backcountry Eastern Sierra photography week. If you follow my posts you probably already know the following, but for anyone who hasn’t read the previous text… we were camped at a lake in a deep north-south oriented valley with very high peaks on either side. Immediately to the east of our camp, across a nearby lake, was a huge talus slope, full of randomly arranged boulders from top to bottom.

Because of the north-south trend of the canyon, early morning and evening direct light was blocked, and we had long periods of “blue hour” shaded light to work with every day. Yes, the light actually is very blue. It comes from having only the blue sky — a sort of giant natural light panel — as the light sources. The question in post is always how blue to let the scene be, since the actual blue can be shocking to viewers. (Our complex sensory system sees this as less blue — the mental process subconsciously says, essentially, “Yes, this is blue, but I know the actual color of rocks, so I’ll pretend I don’t see the blue!”) The photographer gets to make the subjective call on how blue things should be. At times I’ve gone so far as to completely neutrally the blue tones, and if I did so here you would probably feel that it looked natural. On the other hand, it is interesting to me to “go with the blue” and think about the real color of light and the effect that it has on our perceptions. (To be honest, I have actually reduced the amount of blue in the scene!

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Rock Garden

Image Leave a comment
Alpine Rock Garden
An outcropping of shattered rock in the Sierra Nevada alpine zone

Alpine Rock Garden. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An outcropping of shattered rock in the Sierra Nevada alpine zone

My favorite Sierra Nevada backcountry terrain is just a bit lower than this scene — it is the country right at tree line, where small, scattered trees are separated by meadows and rocky areas. But when it come to exhilarating “high and wild” country, places like the one in this photograph cannot be beat. They are so rugged and unadapted to our human way of living that they remind us that this is not entirely “our” world. Yet, with care and persistence, you can enter this country, pass through it, enjoy and even be changed by the experience.

Here I found this outcropping of weathered and shattered stone at the base of a huge talus slope that led up toward the highest peaks. One of those higher ridges blocked the sun, and the scene is softly illuminated by gentle light reflected from nearby high peaks. Looking at this scene it might seem completely impassable. Yet I watched a couple of backpackers slowly make their way across it. This is the sort of country where progress is no longer measured in miles per hour — it is more likely a matter of hours per mile. I recall one such place I crossed a few years ago where our progress dropped to perhaps a quarter-mile per hour as we picked our way past boulders, along benches, and across talus. It was one of the most memorable hikes I’ve had.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Facebook | Email

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