Tag Archives: basin

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Melting Ice, Cathedral Range

July 9, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Winter ice melts on an alpine lake with the peaks of the Cathedral Range on the skyline, Yosemite National Park, California.

We hiked to this 10,000’+ lake near the Sierra crest in the late afternoon on the second-to-last day of June to photograph in the evening light, and were surprised at the amount of ice remaining in the lake and at the amount of snow still filling this small basin. Although the photograph was made during summer, the scene looks distinctly winter-like!

The lake was almost completely ice covered still, though the surface was covered with melt-water pools and there was a small bit of open water right along the shoreline at one end of the lake. The patterns of alternating ice and water were endlessly interesting, and the color variations produced by ice and water reflecting the blue light of the sky changed as the hour became later and as a few clouds floated near the crest.

Tuolumne Meadows aficionados will recognize the snow-covered peaks of the Cathedral range on the skyline, especially the distinctive summit of Cathedral Peak at the far right.

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

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 82mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/25 second

keywords: cathedral, range, sierra, nevada, mountain, peak, ridge, alpine, ice, covered, melt, thaw, lake, pond, gaylor, basin, snow, field, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, blue, rocky, tree, timberline, water, pool, sky, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Ice, Water, and Reflected Clouds

July 5, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of clouds reflected in the surface of shoreline water on a frozen alpine lake, Yosemite National Park.

Once I discovered the reflections of evening clouds in this narrow band of water between the ice and the shoreline of this frozen lake, I managed to make several exposures as the clouds continuously moved past. (I earlier posted a color photograph taken at about the same time.) As I went through the group of images I wanted to try one in a black and white rendition and this one seemed like the of the bunch for that interpretation.

Since the “abstractness” of this scene is what drew me to it, I decided to run with that idea in this version. Although it may not be apparent, this interpretation is the result of more post-processing work than was the case with the similar color photograph.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

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.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Yosemite

Sky and Ice

July 1, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Shoreline water reflects evening sky and clouds along the edge of melting winter ice patterns on an alpine lake in Yosemite National Park, California.

This morning I am back from several days of photographing on either side of the Sierra Nevada crest in the Mono Lake, Tioga Pass, and Tuolumne Meadows area. It is a beautiful early season in the Sierra – the wet and long-lasting winter produced a good snow pack (a substantial portion of which is still there if you go high enough) and now there is water everywhere.

After a mid-afternoon dinner, we headed up a short but steep and muddy trail through newly-emerging plants to reach a broad, snow-covered saddle. From this vantage point we were surprised to see that the valley below was still snow-covered, and that this large lake was almost fully covered by ice, with alternating patterns of thicker ice and melt-water pools. After descending to the lake, I climbed partway up the slope at one end to get a better angle on the ice and the reflected blue light from the sky. This photograph shows evening sky and clouds reflecting in the bit of open water close the shoreline.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)

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

Clouds at Last Light – Badwater Basin and Panamint Range

May 2, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Last light of the day over the Panamint Range casts its glow on Badwater Basin salt flats and clouds.

In what may be the last gasp of my obvious attempt to extract as many photographs as possible from this late March evening in Badwater Basin, here is yet another. This one was photographed well after the sun had set, and I had turned my camera away from the expansive view north into Death Valley and to the east towards the Panamint Range and Telescope Peak over which I saw this wing-shaped cloud. While there was a thin band of relatively bright sky above the Panamint Range, everything else was heading quickly toward twilight. (The longer exposures listed in the “technical data” below will confirm the light levels.)

I’ve previously mentioned the subjective issue of how to handle the very blue tone of the “white” salt formations here. The salt is, no doubt, really white – but after the sun dips below the Panamint Range the only light is that of the very blue sky, and the salt picks this up. If you think about it you can see it on the scene, but when you look at the photographs later it is absolutely clear. I’ve been thinking for several weeks about how I’d handle this one, and I decided over a week ago that I’d “go for the blue” with this rendition.

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

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM at 17mm
ISO 100, f/16, composite of .8 second and 1.3 second exposures

keywords: panamint, mountain, range, badwater, basin, salt, flats, polygons, desert, death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, landscape, travel, scenic, dusk, twilight, sunset, cloud, large, dark, sky, nature, blue, evening, pink, stock, pattern

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