Tag Archives: backcountry

History, Locations, Photographers, Stories

Scot Miller’s ‘First Light’ Videos

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A bit more than two decades ago (I believe it was 2001), the Yosemite Fund (now the Yosemite Conservancy) initiated a project to put groups of landscape photographers into the Yosemite backcountry for a week or more at a time. With pack animal support, the photographers were able to bring the range of equipment required to do this work, and to remain “out there” long enough to become deeply acquainted with these places and produce an extensive body of photographic work.

The initial group was comprised of Charles Cramer, Karl Kroeber, Scot Miller, Mike Osborne, and Keith S. Walklet. I started tagging along in about 2008 and eventually became one of the gang. Over the years the group — will occasional others join us — continued to photograph in the Yosemite backcountry and eventually branched out to work in other locations in the high country.

There have been few projects like this one, supporting serious photography in the High Sierra over a period of many years and producing an exception body of work.

Scot Miller is not only a fine still photographer, but also a very accomplished videographer. In addition to making his own beautiful photographs on these trips, from the very beginning he was documenting the group’s work in video form. More recently Scot managed to do a series of interviews with each of us, and he has begun releasing them on YouTube.

Below are links to some of the videos that are currently available. First the “origin story” of the group.

Then pieces on three of the photographers:

Charles Cramer

Karl Kroeber

Mike Osborne.

And a bonus: The Longest Ride

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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Subalpine Meadow, Lake, and Peaks

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Subapline Meadow, Lake, and Peaks
“Subalpine Meadow, Lake, and Peaks” — Alpine peaks stand beyond a subalpine meadow and lake, John Muir Wilderness.

This monumental string of peaks running west from the Sierra Nevada crest was our companion during a two-week late-summer base-camp here a few years ago. A group of nine photographers packed in and set up basecamp for a week. This gave us plenty of time to extensively explore and photograph the surrounding area. It is rare — and quite special — to get to focus so thoroughly on one small area of the wilderness like this.

Our camp was down in forest near a small lake, perhaps a ten or fifteen minute walk from the location of the photograph. A short walk up through the forest brought us to the edge of the alpine world at the timberline, where streams meander through open meadows, the views are uninterrupted by large trees, and it is possible to simply walk wherever you want to go — no need for trails.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpenglow, Dissipating Thunderhead

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Alpenglow, Dissipating Thunderhead
“Alpenglow, Dissipating Thunderhead” — An afternoon thunderstorm dissipates above developing alpenglow on Sierra Nevada peaks and flower-filled meadow, John Muir Wilderness.

I remember this evening well. I’m not always sure why, but the details of certain specific days in the Sierra stick with me. As I recall, it was a quiet evening well into our weeklong stay near the lower end of this high basin. We were relaxed and enjoying the spectacle of large storms dissipating to our south as the evening approached.

These peaks and ridges and this meadow were our friends for that week, and we saw them in diverse conditions and light. Even though it was late summer, the wildflowers peaked near our arrival and were perhaps just beginning to fade. We viewed and photographed that ridge in morning and evening light, on days that were clear and when the view was obstructed by haze, clouds, or rain.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Forest and Meadow, Evening

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Forest and Meadow, Evening
“Forest and Meadow, Evening” — Soft evening light on backcountry forest and meadows, Sierra Nevada.

One of the attractions of the Sierra backcountry is deep quiet, something that gets lost in all the attention paid to spectacular peaks, wild sunrises and sunsets, flowing water, and more. From the photographic perspective, this may partly be because it is easier to reflect those powerful subjects in a photograph — quiet photographs don’t demand our attention in the same way. This is one of the quiet photographs.

We were camped very close to this scene for about a week on a backcountry trip. Like virtually all photographers, we started our work at the beginning of our stay by heading out to photograph those peaks, wildflower-filled meadows, spectacular skies, and streams cascading over rocks and through meadows. But as we settled into the quiet daily routines of the backcountry we began to notice other things — like this scene with a few trees and bit of rocky meadow in the soft evening light.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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