Tag Archives: bishop

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dense Aspen Grove, Autumn

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Dense Aspen Grove, Autumn

Dense Aspen Grove, Autumn. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Small trees grow closely together in a dens aspen grove near South Lake, Sierra Nevada, Callifornia.

I have photographed this dense stand of Sierra Nevada aspens below South Lake in the past. I first found it a year ago while exploring a short gravel road off to the side of the main road to South Lake, and I’ve come to like photographing it in late afternoon, evening, or cloudy light – all of which diffuse and soften the light, allowing more visibility into the center of the very dense trees.

This year the leaf color was not nearly as intense in this grove as it was when I visited last year, though here I think the complexity of the branch patterns shows up better. (Though that will be almost impossible to see in this small jpg version – I’ve tested for a print at 10″ x 30″ size where the detail is more clearly seen.)

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

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Storm Clouds at Dawn – Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys

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Autumn Storm Clouds at Dawn - Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys

Autumn Storm Clouds at Dawn – Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning light above the Buttermilks illumunates Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys under the clouds of an early autumn storm over the Sierra Nevada crest.

This is another of several exposures I made on this beautiful early October morning when I decided to abandon my plans to be at North Lake for dawn after spotting these astonishing clouds over the eastern Sierra as I drove through the Buttermilks on my way up into the Bishop Creek drainage. I drove out on gravel roads into the high desert until I found what looked like an interesting juxtaposition of near hills, mountains beyond, the peaks of the Sierra in the distance, and the clouds that were dropping light snow up higher in the range above.

Needless to say, the light and the cloud forms were constantly changing as I watched this scene. I waited until the closer rocky hills began to pick up a bit of a glow from the sun low in the eastern sky, and then I made a number of exposures as the sun struck lower on the mountains and as the patterns of light and shadow from racing clouds moved across the peaks.

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

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Tioga Pass and Alternatives as Winter Approaches

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Lots of us northern and central California photographers make trips to the eastern Sierra in the summer and fall – I know that many of you have been there in the past month to photograph aspens and other fall color. For many of us the standard route to the “east side” is through Yosemite National Park and over Tioga Pass on State Highway 120 to Lee Vining and the area near Mono Lake. From here it is a short drive south to Mammoth (about a half hour) and Bishop (an hour) and points south, including Big Pine, Independence, and Lone Pine.

As the fall season arrives and winter weather approaches, Tioga Pass becomes a less reliable route and eventually closes for the season. The seasonal closure typically occurs sometime in late October or in November, though the historical records show that it has happened as late as January 1! Continue reading Tioga Pass and Alternatives as Winter Approaches →

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

Aspen Trunks, Autumn

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Aspen Trunks, Autumn

Aspen Trunks, Autumn. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A row of bare, white aspen tree trunks in front of a grove of trees in full autumn color, Sierra Nevada, California.

Since I like both the wild colors of autumn aspens and the stark bare white trunks of the trees after the leaves fall, it is should be no surprise that this scene attracted me – in the front is a row of trees that had lost their leaves and behind is a small grove with wild yellow, gold, and red leaves.

I photographed this group of trees in soft afternoon light in the upper reaches of the drainage below South Lake where the sun drops behind higher ridges early at this time of year. The aspen conditions were a bit unusual here when I visited: some trees that had changed colors earlier had lost all or most of their leaves due to a cold snap and some very strong winds, but other trees seemed to be late in changing colors and were still green.

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

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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