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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Stream And Meadow

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Stream And Meadow
An alpine stream descends through a boulder-strewn, meadow-filled Sierra Nevada valley

Stream And Meadow. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An alpine stream descends through a boulder-strewn, meadow-filled Sierra Nevada valley.

One reason I made this photograph is that the scene is so ordinary, believe it or not. In fact, these little landscapes of flowing water, meadow, rocks, and small trees are perhaps my favorite in the Sierra Nevada, found in the region just below timberline where the terrain begins to open up. I’d love to be able to add the sound of this scene to the post, with its characteristic and almost ever-present lullaby of flowing water.

This location was only a few hundred feet from our camp. We stayed in a small valley between two ridges, and just below the truly alpine region of moraines and ridges and peaks. Here several streams converged, draining various higher canyons and lakes, and we were never far from water.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Cascade And Peaks, Morning

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Cascade And Peaks, Morning
Peaks lit by early morning light rirse above a Sierra Nevada wilderness cascade near timberline

Cascade And Peaks, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Peaks lit by early morning light rirse above a Sierra Nevada wilderness cascade near timberline.

The daily routine on these backcountry photographic expeditions tends to follow a basic pattern. We’re up very early — in order to be in a good place by the time the light arrives we typically need to arise when it is still dark out and then make our way to our chosen location. There’s often an intense period of photography right around sunrise, but then things taper off as the rate of change in the light slows. We work for a couple of hours until the light becomes less spectacular, then we return to camp for breakfast followed by a midday period of mostly hanging out. We usually eat dinner in the late afternoon time frame, and then we head out once again for a few hours of photography that often end in darkness.

On this morning I had a plan to walk up a nearby route to a higher lake, where I had several potential photographs in mind. I knew that these scenes were very light dependent, so I wanted to arrive early. I set out with plenty of time… and immediately started to find myself distracted by unanticipated subjects. I stopped to photograph the inlet stream of a lake, then a pool below the trail, then this lovely section of a small creek cascading down the slope from the valley above.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Clouds, Evening Sky

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Clouds, Evening Sky
Sunset clouds above the Sierra Nevada crest, John Muir Wilderness

Clouds, Evening Sky. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset clouds above the Sierra Nevada crest, John Muir Wilderness.

Sierra skies will please or distress you, depending upon your relationship to them and to light. Many visitors absolutely love the days-long stretches of perfect blue skies that occur here, frequently uninterrupted by any clouds at all. (These conditions are among those that give rise to the “Range of Light” designation for these mountains.) On the other hand, photographs often find these “perfect” conditions to be boring, and you might be surprised to hear us complain about too much blue sky!

Our late-August arrival at this location was accompanied by rain during the afternoon on the day we hiked in — no downpours, but enough to gently soak everything and persuade us to put on parkas and set up tents. On the second day we had a few more clouds… but that was pretty much it. The rest of our stay (with the exception of our walk back out, when it did rain again) featured — you guessed it — one of those “days-long stretches of perfect blue skies.” So, after days of such aggravatingly perfect weather, we were absolutely thrilled when these lovely sunset clouds drifted over our valley in the evening on our last full day, glowing with gentle color against the deepening blue of the evening sky.

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

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

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

,Autumn Aspens, Cliff

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Autumn Aspens, Cliff
Autumn aspen trees cling to ledges along the face of a cliff in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspens, Cliff. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn aspen trees cling to ledges along the face of a cliff in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

The aspens in this photograph have fascinated me for years. Nearby are some relatively large, tall, and straight trees, but for the most part the trees in this scene are small, slender, and sometimes even a bit misshapen. They manage to eke out a living on what appears to be solid rock as they send their roots into narrow cracks.

These trees seem to have, at least in my experience, a fairly short period of maximum color. Or at least that is what I tell myself when looking to explain why I have somehow almost always missed their best color. But it also appears that they change colors earlier than some of the other trees in the area — I made this photograph just past the middle of September, nearly two weeks before the typical start of the more widespread fall color season in the Sierra.

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

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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