Tag Archives: boulders

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

Two Trees, Morning Light, Pywiack Dome

June 26, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning sun illuminates two gnarled trees at the base of Pywiack Dome, Yosemite National Park

I should begin by acknowledging that I sort of think of these as being “Charlie’s Trees,” since I first saw them in a marvelous photograph by Charles Cramer during a visit to the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Valley. The photograph was tucked away in an inconspicuous place up high above a doorway, but it caught my eye immediately. I knew right away from the composition and the quality of the light that it was Charlie’s work.

On the morning of the day after Tioga Pass opened this year, I had gone early in the morning to a spot just below this location, planning to photograph the high water of Tenaya Creek near where the creek from Cathedral Lakes joins and where the combined flow was flooding the meadow below Pywiack Dome. Finishing with that subject, I decided to head back up toward Tuolumne. Almost immediately as I passed by the base of Pywiack Dome, I could see that the morning sun was beginning to come around the shoulder of the dome and strike these trees and that the background of thicker forest and snow was softened a bit by haze and backlight. Very conscious of not wanting to recreate another photographer’s composition, I decided to use a long lens and let these two old and weathered trees fill the left half of the frame.

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

Impossible Tree Falls

June 24, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

“Impossible Tree Falls” in full early season flow, fed by the runoff from a very heavy snowpack, Yosemite National Park.

I don’t know if this is really called Impossible Tree Falls, but I like the name and I’m going with it. My guess is that the reason for the name might be two-fold. First, the tree does grow right in the middle of this roadside water fall. It must be an interesting few weeks each spring when this tree wakes up to find itself in the middle of a raging water fall, since the rest of the year things are much calmer. Second, the trees seems to grow on nothing but bare rock. It is hard to see in this mist-covered and back-lit image, but it looks like the tree is rooted in solid rock.

For a person who likes to occasionally think of himself as something of a back-country photographer, it is almost embarrassing to admit that this waterfall is right next to Tioga Pass Road. I’ll be honest – I parked my car in a pull-out on the opposite side of the roadway and probably never moved more than 10 yards from there. To add insult to injury, at a couple of points I had to stop shooting while passing recreational vehicles interfered with the view! ;-)

But none of that makes the tumultuous little waterfall any less impressive. It appears above the road, where it seems to come out of a flatter forest area, and then it abruptly tumbles down a very steep rocky incline, twisting and turning around boulders – and one solitary tree.

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

Cascade Creek Spring Torrent

June 2, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small tree stands in the raging spring torrent of Cascade Creek, Yosemite National Park.

This may be the final photograph in this series I shot in early May when I visited this seasonal cascade on the way into Yosemite Valley. Compared to some of the others this one takes in a larger portion of the scene, mainly so that I could include the little leafless tree or bush at the lower left, as it stands against the tremendous force of the rushing water descending steeply among the rocks.

This creek is fed by seasonal snow melt fairly early in the season because the ares that feed its flow are at a relatively lower elevation. For a while each year, but especially in a wet year like this one, this little creek rages as it drops precipitously down this narrow canyon towards a point below where it flows into the Merced River. A bridge provides an interesting vantage point from which to shoot almost directly down into the torrent.

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

Pacific Coast Near Bixby Creek

May 16, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The blue Pacific Ocean and rugged fog-topped coastal hills meet along the Big Sur coastline at Bixby Creek.

On a nearly perfect spring morning – despite the ominous sounding Friday the 13th date! – I spent a morning along the upper Big Sur coast below Monterey, California. The brilliant sun was modulated a bit by some atmospheric haze over the ocean and occasional fog clouds clustered around the tops of the coastal hills. Since I made quite a few stops along the way, I only went as far south as the iconic Bixby Bridge. This photograph was made from very near the spot where thousands (including me!) have photographed the bridge itself – it is out of the frame to the left. On this morning, the bridge didn’t interest me much at all, so I instead photographed the wild and steep coastline, with its spring green contrasting with the brilliant blues of the coastal waters below the rugged cliffs. At the very lower left corner, Bixby Creek flows across the beach and into the Pacific Ocean. Above, the coast highway rises across the top of the coastal bluffs on its way south.

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