Diffused light from a cloudy sky casts a soft shadow across a wall with a faint stain.
This is perhaps a subtle photograph. Originally it was in color, but the colors were so subdued – almost invisible, actually – that I decided to go with this black and white rendition. This wall is in a New York museum and is located next to a window. It was overcast, so the light coming through the window was particularly soft and diffused. It wasn’t until I looked at this photograph in post that I realized that there is a “flaw” in the scene – the slightly darker stained area on the upper wall.
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.
Evening sky over the Great Western Divide reflected in an unnamed alpine lake, Sequoia National Park, California.
I don’t know quite what to say about this area of the Sierra located just east of the Great Western Divide in the upper reaches of the Kern River drainage – I’ve been very close to here on many previous trips, but I never quite managed to hop the intervening ridge even though I’ve thought vaguely about visiting this area for decades and I once passed through the lower reaches of it, more or less by accident and completely unaware of what was just upstream.
A group of us traveled over Kearsarge Pass (11,700’+) and Forrester Pass (13, 200′) to arrive in the upper Kern at Tyndall Creek along the JMT. (I think the general area is also known as the “bighorn plateau.”) I’ve been here on several previous occasions while heading to or circumnavigating Mt. Whitney. While I’ve gone east (to exit over the very rough Shepherd Pass at 12,000′) I’ve not really explored west and north of this area. Our general plan on this trip was to rectify that, specifically by visiting remote and very high Lake South America. After wandering up a mosquito-infested valley, climbing its headwall, and then dropping to a lake just below the saddle we made it to Lake South America. We had originally planned to stay here overnight, but the very barren and rocky surroundings didn’t attract us in the end, so we decided to head on to the west and south.
After a bit of a walk on a somewhat rough trail (which got much rougher later on) we arrived at a series of timberline lakes overlooking the Great Western Divide, which towered above us to the west. There is much I could say about this area, but I’ll limit myself to a few comments… and not name the specific location we visited. We finally found a sandy camping spot between a few lakes and tarns – it was surrounded by stunning alpine views ranging from the lakes themselves and the surrounding rocky meadows and clumps of trees to the jagged and high peaks to our west. The next morning we followed a very faint trail down the canyon, passing almost continuously through astonishing scenery featuring intimate, granite-surrounded meadows and small lakes.
I must go back. It won’t be easy. I’ll want to carry a bit more photography gear than I carried on this trip, and I’ll want to stay a day or two longer. And the location is two to three days from the nearest trailheads, all of which take you over some very high passes.
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.
One of two known natural arches in this area stands high on a ridge.
Although I have visited this area for decades and know it quite well, this year was the first time I had taken notice of and actually visited this natural arch or bridge, supposedly one of two in this region. (The other is, from what I’ve heard, underwater!) I won’t say too much more about this feature since it seems to be pleasantly unburdened by tremendous waves of tourists at this point… If you know where it is, I urge you to do the same.
(To illustrate how important this is with a fragile feature such as this arch, after I posted this image somewhere else a person followed up with a photograph of some damned fool standing on the arch! This demonstrates a gross disregard for this beautiful feature – there are weaknesses in the rock at the ends of the arch, and taking risks with a feature like this one that took nature thousands of years to construct is the height of irresponsibility.)
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.
The first morning light touches trees at the edge of Tioga Meadows, Yosemite National Park.
I always enjoy photographing the light at the edges of shadows as they move across the landscape early and late in the day, and I especially like the way that this light can gradually pick out subjects like these trees against a still-unlit background. With this in mind I was near Tioga Pass early in the morning as the light began to work its way down into Tioga Meadow as the sun rose above the ridges of Mounts Dana and Gibbs.
A bit of an ironic note: I was so focused on the light and the trees that I failed to notice that two deer were grazing in the scene until I began working on the photograph after returning home! If you look very closely you may be able to find one that is right at the shadow/sun edge, but I’d be surprised if anyone can find the second one.
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.
keywords: first, light, morning, tioga, meadows, pass, forest, mount, dana, lodgepole, tamarack, pine, deer, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, alpine, black and white, monochrome, nature, landscape, scenic, travel, stock, shadow, hill, grove
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
