Tag Archives: boulders

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

Autumn Storm Clouds at Dawn – Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys

October 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

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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keywords: basin, mountain, mount, humphreys, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, crest, buttermilk, high, desert, owens, valley, trees, rocks, boulders, morning, dawn, light, illuminate, black and white, dramatic, ridge, peak, shadow, storm, clouds, patterns, bishop, california, usa, eastern, slope, escarpment, season, fall, autumn, early, stock

News, Photographers

A ‘Thank You’ to Jim M Goldstein

January 29, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Late last year, photographer (and blogger and podcaster) Jim M. Goldstein came up with a great way to reconnect photographers and fans of photography with the experience of the print – “Buying Prints from your Favorite Photographers.”

I was very pleased with Jim’s interest in my work, and with his selection of one of my favorite recent photographs:

Submerged Boulders, Lake, and Cliffs — Sunlight illuminates submerged boulders near the cliff face along the High Sierra Trail – Sequioa National Park.

Since I am a fan of Jim’s work as well, we decided to trade photographs and I ended up copy of his very lovely and mysterious “Primitive Coastline” seascape. And, yes, I’ll post my image of his framed photograph here before long. We met back on a rainy winter evening during the holidays and had a chance to “talk shop” a bit, and it was a joy not only to see his work but to meet him.

Yesterday Jim posted a photograph of my now-framed photograph at his blog, along with some very kind and much appreciated words about my photography.

Thanks, Jim!

(I would also like to take this opportunity to offer my gratitude to landscape photographer and master printer Charles Cramer for his invaluable help finding out how to best “see” this photograph as a print. Thanks, Charlie! :-)

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Rocks and Reflections, Merced River

October 22, 2008 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Rocks and reflections from sunlit cliffs in the Merced River, Yosemite Valley, Callifornia.

This is a major re-working of a photograph I made last winter on a very cold morning in the Valley. I had been photographing nearer to the upper end of the Valley and as the sun rose higher I decided to head down toward Bridalveil fall to shoot in the border between sun and shadow. I was almost to Bridalveil and driving along a shaded section of the road (Southside Drive, which is normally not open to traffic headed this direction) when I saw an area of exposed rocks in a deeply shaded area with the surface of the river illuminated by the brilliant golden reflection from the fully sunlit cliffs above on the north side of the Valley. I found a marginal parking space alongside the road and set up with a long lens and looked for interesting compositions among the rocks.

There is a funny story to add to this. As I was shooting, as often happens when one sets up near a roadway with a "pro-looking" gear (hey, all it really seems to take is a tripod), other visitors began to pull over to see what the photographer was shooting, jumping out of their cars with cameras in hand. This in a very dark section of the canyon. With me using a very long lens. Pointed straight down at some boring rocks in the river. Waiting. For something. Quite a few of them just shook their heads, looked at me like I was nuts, got back in their cars, and drove on. :-)

keywords: California, Landscape, National Park, Place, Season, Travel, Winter, valley, merced, river, reflections, swirls, rocks, boulders, current, california, usa, travel, scenic, landscape, water, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Grove, South Fork Bishop Creek

October 14, 2008 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Slender aspen trunks topped with golden autumn leaves near the South Fork of Bishop Creek.

This beautiful grove of slender-trunk aspens with only a few leaves left in their crowns was a lucky find. In the evening I went out looking for groves that were in the shadow of the high peaks of the valley below South Lake. I ended up on a small one-lane gravel road that didn’t seem to be getting too many visitors besides me. I found this grove near the end of this road just before it rejoined the main paved roadway, and just as the fading light provided saturated colors in the trees’ crowns to provide contrast with the paper white color of their trunks. (There is quite a bit of fine detail in this photograph that isn’t visible in the small jpg image posted here.)

keywords: aspen, tree, grove, trunk, white, leaves, yellow, gold, boulders, rocks, branch, bishop, creek, south, fork, south lake, california, usa, sierra, nevada, range, mountains, fall, autumn, color, scenic, travel, stock, nature

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.