Tag Archives: atmosphere

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Cranes, Sunrise

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Cranes, Sunrise
Cranes fly above sun rising though fog and haze

Cranes, Sunrise. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cranes fly above sun rising though fog and haze

The past few weeks have not been kind to California, with yet another very dry fall leading to some extraordinarily serious late-season wildfires. In particular, the historic and tragic toll of the “Camp Fire” is on our minds. In addition to those in the area directly affected by the fire, many Californians who live elsewhere in the state have friends who lost their homes and worse. And all across the state unhealthy levels of smoke have affected millions of Californians. (As I write this, we are finally getting our first real weather front of the season and the smoke levels are diminishing a bit.)

I have long pondered how to deal with these conditions photographically. Some years ago I realized that managed fires are a good thing for our environment (and even help reduce the likelihood of first like we recently experienced), but it has still been a challenge to find ways to make “beautiful” photographs of such things. I recently made this photograph on a morning when the air was still thick with this smoke, combined with fog, almost completely muting the light of the rising sun.

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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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Desert Ridges and Haze

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Desert Ridges and Haze
Layers of desert ridges extend into distant haze

Desert Ridges and Haze. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Layers of desert ridges extend into distant haze

Desert landscapes are, in some ways, what I think of as the most “pure” landscapes. Their aridity means that there is rarely much to obscure the actual geology of these places — no forests, no grassy meadows, few bodies of water. The landscape is laid bare.

The colors, textures, and patterns of rock and soil are revealed, and the changing light paints this landscape in remarkable ways. The colors change throughout the day depending upon the height of the sun, the color of surfaces reflecting the light, and the clarity of the sky. The atmosphere itself changes the landscape — crystal clear air reveals distant features as if they were close by, while air filled with blowing sand and dust obscures detail and focuses attention on larger elements of 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.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature

Spring Morning, Carrizo Plain

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Spring Morning, Carrizo Plain
An exceptional spring wildflower bloom in the arid Carrizo Plain

Spring Morning, Carrizo Plain. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An exceptional spring wildflower bloom in the arid Carrizo Plain

Most of the time — and all of the time in many typical years — this location would strike a visitor as being pretty much a desert. This is a hot and dry place, with playas that remind one of areas of Nevada or even Death Valley. It is a long ways from any towns, and there are virtually no amenities there. In other words, just the sort of place I like to visit.

Every so often, when California’s winter rains are heavier than usual, and when the rest of the factors work out just right, such arid locations can break out with astounding displays of wildflowers. I was fortunate to time a visit to one such location just right. On this morning the yellow flowers seemed to extend all the way toward the  mountains shrouded in glowing fog.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Afternoon Light, Lee Vining Canyon

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Afternoon Light, Lee Vining Canyon
Clouds from a dissipating storm, afternoon haze and light, spring aspens and meadows in Lee Vining Canyon

Afternoon Light, Lee Vining Canyon. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds from a dissipating storm, afternoon haze and light, spring aspens and meadows in Lee Vining Canyon

This is another photograph from my marathon one-day trip from the San Francisco Bay Area over Tioga Pass and back earlier this week. This was as close to Monday’s opening of Tioga Pass Road as I could make it. In some ways it may have turned out for the best to not go on the actual opening day. I suspect that there were more people up there that day, and it was fairly deserted a couple of days later. I think that the weather was probably a bit more cooperative when I went, too — it was mostly fair, but with some interesting clouds and even a couple of drops of rain.

By mid-afternoon I had crossed the pass and dropped down to Lee Vining. The midday light isn’t generally my favorite for photography, so I went for a hike near Mono Lake before swinging back to Lee Vining to grab an early dinner before starting my return trip. The plan was to start back up through Lee Vining Canyon as the light was starting to become interesting, giving my as much as a couple of hours of potential photography time along Tioga Pass Road. It was somewhat hazy — a slightly thick atmosphere left behind in the wake of a weather front. This can produce dramatic lighting sometimes, but it can also lower contrast, mute colors, and generally make photography a bit tricky. (One option is to shoot for black and white!) As I started the climb up into Lee Vining Canyon, some beams of light came down from dissipating clouds and began to light the new growth of meadows and aspen trees at the bottom of the canyon.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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