Tag Archives: big

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Maple, Forest, Fog

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Maple, Forest, Fog
Big leaf maple tree with autumn foliage in a foggy Yosemite National Park forest

Maple, Forest, Fog. Yosemite National Park, California. October 29, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Big leaf maple tree with autumn foliage in a foggy Yosemite National Park forest

This is a somewhat different photograph of a tree that appeared in another photograph I shared earlier this week. I had left Oakhurst very early in the morning, with the plan of arriving in Yosemite Valley at first light. Some plans don’t work out, and this was such a morning. As I drove along the highway through the park between the southern entrance and the valley, the road dropped into a valley that was fully fogged-in. I passed a spot that I had noted the day before, where several big leaf maple trees with fall foliage were growing in a small gully leading off into the foggy forest.

I quickly found a place to stop and turn around and head back. I grabbed my equipment, dropped into the gully, and went to work photographing before the fog lifted. The fog, along with the residual moisture from the previous day’s rain, intensified the colors and the soft light filled in the shadows, with the misty atmosphere leading back into the conifer forest.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Two Small Trees, Autumn Fog

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Two Small Trees, Autumn Fog
A few autumn maple trees are scattered in a Yosemite National Park forest on a foggy morning

Two Small Trees, Autumn Fog. Yosemite National Park, California. October 29, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A few autumn maple trees are scattered in a Yosemite National Park forest on a foggy morning

I admit it. I got distracted. This past week I had reason to visit Oakhurst, California, just below the southern boundary of Yosemite National Park. I drove up there in tremendous rain, had my meeting, and then headed to The Valley for a few hours of photography. As I drove up from Oakhurst the forest was wet and fog was everywhere — perhaps the ideal conditions for all color — but I kept driving, wanting to get to the Valley before the light was gone. At one spot inside the park I caught a glimpse of a bright yellow big leaf maple tree in a small gully leading away from the road, but I did not stop.

I was back in Oakhurst that night, and then up very early the next morning with a plan to arrive in the Valley again by daybreak. I headed up from town again, but once again there was fog, though less of it. Three things I cannot resist are autumn color, fog, and forests — so when I passed this spot again I quickly decided to turn around and come back to make some photographs. This is a complex photograph, the opposite of the minimalist images I like to produce (see some recent Mono Lake photographs for examples), but that is the nature of forest scenes like this — they are an utterly harmonious whole created out of a very complex set of components. And, even better, they are mysterious and quiet and still.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Fog, Mist, Ocean, and Sky

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Fog, Mist, Ocean, and Sky
Looking westward toward the Pacific Ocean horizon and dissipating fog

Fog, Mist, Ocean, and Sky. Big Sur Coast, California. June 29, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Looking westward toward the Pacific Ocean horizon and dissipating fog

I have something of an obsession with views to the west from the California coast, especially those in which details gradually fade toward and a distant and indistinct horizon. As a person whose family moved to this state when I was very young, and the son of a father who gradually worked his way west from New York through the midwest and the west to finally arrive on this coast, there is still, no doubt, at least a remnant of whatever it was that moved Americans across a continent — to arrive at its edge and look east to the unknown.

Minimalist Pacific Ocean views like this one have long intrigued me, especially when the light is extremely bright, to the point that the atmosphere glows so brightly that it almost hurts to look into it. This was an interesting day, one on which I escaped the hot inland weather to drive down the coast, where the fog was never far away. Here, at a spot high above the water, only thin remnants of the fog were present, along with a soft haze just above the water leading to a fog bank far off shore.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Western Horizon, Fog Clouds

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Western Horizon, Fog Clouds
Clearing fog clouds above the Pacific Ocean western horizon

Western Horizon, Fog Clouds. Big Sur Coast, California. June 29, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clearing fog clouds above the Pacific Ocean western horizon

While I often am inclined to photograph the coast in the very early and very late hours, when the light is often at its most beautiful, I frequently see a special kind of light over the ocean in the middle of the day when I look to the west. Dissipating fog and the general moisture of the ocean, sometimes augmented by higher clouds, can give the backlight atmosphere a luminous and glowing quality — one that I often think of a light so intense that I can barely look into it. The ocean may lead off toward a horizon that simply disappears in this mist and luminosity.

This was a challenging day photographically, though the circumstances of making this photograph were quite mundane. I begin photographing at a slough many miles to the north, in the early morning when things were still foggy and gray. Eventually I moved down the coast, finding alternating fog and sunshine, but always high winds. It was a wonderful day to be out and about along this coast… but not an easy day for photography, and I had made very few photographs when I finally hit my turn-around point and stopped for coffee and a snack before stating to drive back to the north. After I parked and got my snack I came back to my car and noticed the small dissipating clouds of fog just offshore. The road was narrow, with no room for me to safely set up a tripod, so I shot handheld, thinking more about capturing scene data for a concept I wanted to work on in post than about capturing an “accurate” straight out of camera image.

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 | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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