Tag Archives: boulders

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspens and Granite, Autumn

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Aspens and Granite, Autumn - Aspen trees with golden autumn leaves grow among boulders on a rocky eastern Sierra Nevada slope
Aspen trees with golden autumn leaves grow among boulders on a rocky eastern Sierra Nevada slope

Aspens and Granite, Autumn. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Aspen trees with golden autumn leaves grow among boulders on a rocky eastern Sierra Nevada slope

Before my single day of eastern Sierra Nevada aspen photography this season, I had been concerned about the quality and timing of the color – and reports by some other photographers who visited just before I was there were not encouraging. Reports mentioned trees that had turned earlier than usual (true) and trees that turned without producing special color and so forth. Compounding my concerns just a bit was the fact that my schedule required me to be there a bit earlier than the time I would typically regard as being prime for aspen color. But I’d rather shoot one day of less-than-stupendous aspen color than miss the entire show, so up into the eastern Sierra above Bishop, California we drove.

I was pleased to find that there was actually a lot of great color. Some of the usual “hot spots” that people seem to flock to were perhaps not as amazing as they can be, but after photographing the aspens for some years I have found some odd little personal places where I could find good color – and in a few places color that was downright excellent. I photographed these trees rather late in the day, perhaps after many people who prefer to photograph aspens in the sun had already left. I intentionally sought out an area that I knew would be in shade since I often prefer the muted and softer light this brings. Here the trees are not quite so thick since they grow on very difficult and rocky slopes. But what they lacked in density they made up for in color!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Juniper Tree and Sandstone Cliffs, Evening

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Juniper Tree and Sandstone Cliffs, Evening - Soft evening light on a single juniper tree among boulders at the base of tall sandstone cliffs, Capitol Reef National Park
Soft evening light on a single juniper tree among boulders at the base of tall sandstone cliffs, Capitol Reef National Park

Juniper Tree and Sandstone Cliffs, Evening. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 26, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft evening light on a single juniper tree among boulders at the base of tall sandstone cliffs, Capitol Reef National Park

This photograph was a serendipitous one that resulted from going to a somewhat unlikely place, and going there without a whole lot of enthusiasm, having only modest success at that place, and then while leaving happening to look up at the right moment and spot some very interesting and somewhat unusual post-sunset light. The plot began with an evening last-minute decision to go shoot “somewhere” in Capitol Reef, but without a specific objective in mind. We perhaps had some thoughts about shooting along the descent from Torrey, Utah toward the park boundary, but this is tricky late in the day due to the way the terrain slants up to the west, causing the sun to drop below the elevated horizon rather early and stealing the light from the foreground terrain.

When we passed the park boundary we still didn’t have a clear idea of what the evening’s “target” might be, so we drove slowly into the park, looking at many things but not seeing quite the photographic opportunities that might have caused us to stop. We finally decided to investigate a large canyon and drove to its entrance, parked, and walked in a ways. Because of the orientation of this canyon, the light here also left us rather soon. We made some photographs – a few of which might even turn out to be interesting – and then headed back out of the canyon. The way passed along the base of a very tall sandstone cliff formed from one of the thicker layers of sedimentary rock. Typically the rock would appear darker and redder, but the soft post-sunset light changed the tones to an almost pastel effect – and we both quickly decided to stop and do some shooting. This lone juniper trees was growing improbably in the middle of a pile of very large boulders that had fallen from the cliffs, and those cliffs were catching the late and soft light from the west.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Cottonwood Trees and Sandstone Cliffs

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Cottonwood Trees and Sandstone Cliffs - Cottonwood trees in Capitol Gorge at the base of sandstone cliffs, Capitol Reef National Park
Cottonwood trees in Capitol Gorge at the base of sandstone cliffs, Capitol Reef National Park

Cottonwood Trees and Sandstone Cliffs. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 7, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cottonwood trees in Capitol Gorge at the base of sandstone cliffs, Capitol Reef National Park.

Although we had passed through Capitol Reef National Park on our way to Moab earlier this year, I really was mostly unaware of the nature or extent of this park. On this trip we decided to spend some more substantial time here and investigate something more than just the highway that passes through it! Although this park still warrants a lot more exploration (especially in its northern section) we visited the popular west-side scenic areas and drove the long gravel road down the east side of the park, up the steep switchback road into the high country, and then followed the Burr Trail back down to Boulder.

This photograph was made in one of the more accessible places along the west side. Photographing cottonwoods was on my (rather long) list of things to do on this visit, and there are plenty of them in this park! I was a bit too early, for the most part, to find the brilliant yellow-gold autumn color, but the way that the tops of this group of trees lined up with the slanting angles of the huge sandstone layers and cliffs caught my attention, along with the colors intensified by the backlight.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening Light on Shoreline Trees, Steelhead Lake

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Evening Light on Shoreline Trees, Steelhead Lake - Early evening light coming across the Sierra crest illuminates shoreline trees at Steelhead Lake, eastern Sierra Nevada
Early evening light coming across the Sierra crest illuminates shoreline trees at Steelhead Lake, eastern Sierra Nevada

Evening Light on Shoreline Trees, Steelhead Lake. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. September 15, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early evening light coming across the Sierra crest illuminates shoreline trees at Steelhead Lake, eastern Sierra Nevada.

This photograph was made during that quiet evening hour, about the time when dinner has been finished and food stowed for the night, sleeping bag set up in tent, and things slow down (from their already-slow pace!) as the golden hour light comes on. Typically, the afternoon wind decreases and the lake surface becomes smooth, more clearly revealing the fish rising for an evening meal.

This is another photograph made within a few feet of my bivy sack campsite on a peninsula rising above this lake in the McGee Creek drainage. As I had eaten dinner with my two backpacking partners, I had been keeping an eye on this little scene that I had checked out earlier in the afternoon, watching to see if the four small trees down near the water might catch the last light from the setting sun before the evening shadow came across the lake.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.