Tag Archives: california

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snags and Mountains

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Snags and Mountains
Trailside snags to the east of the Great Western Divide in the Sequoia National Park backcountry

Snags and Mountains. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trailside snags to the east of the Great Western Divide in the Sequoia National Park backcountry

This is another of the photographs from the 2008 trip that I mentioned in an earlier post — a trans-Sierra crossing with friends via the High Sierra Trail. The route, while less known that the John Muir Trail (and shorter) crosses the Sierra from west to east, connecting the west side in Sequoia National Park with Mount Whitney and then Whitney Portal on the east side. The route provides a tremendous cross-section of the Sierra. It starts not far from middle-elevation redwood groves on the west side, follows the gigantic canyon of the Kaweah River to cross the Great Western Divide at Kaweah Gap, drops down into Big Arroyo to reach the depths of Kern Canyon, follows the Kern upstream, climbs steeply to the John Muir Trail, passes through the alpine boundary and then into alpine country to ascend Mount Whitney, and ends with the immense descent from the crest to Whitney Portal.

I made this photograph in the Big Arroyo section of the trail. We had cleared Kaweah Gap and camped in the valley below and were climbing above the Big Arroyo canyon in preparation for a short side-trip to Moraine Lake. This low ridge provided extensive views down Big Arroyo, up into the Kaweahs to our left and behind us, and across the canyon to the Great Western Divide.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Inlet Stream, Subalpine Lake

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Inlet Stream, Subalpine Lake
Sierra Nevada ridge, forest, and lake viewed from the meadowy inlet stream

Inlet Stream, Subalpine Lake. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sierra Nevada ridge, forest, and lake viewed from the meadowy inlet stream

I made this photograph on a lovely late-summer morning at a Sierra Nevada backcountry location where we camped for about a week a while ago. Camped nearby, hidden among trees and boulders on a small glacial moraine, we woke each morning, emerged from tents, and were immediately in a target-rich photographic environment. We had choices — wander the nearby meadow and lake, head up the hill to bigger meadows, or embark on a longer hike above timberline.

The lake is more or less a Sierra classic. It sits on a bench above a deeper canyon, with low hill at the outlet end suggesting that the terrain was scooped out by glaciation. Above (and behind my camera position) the valley continues, rising well above treelike and culminating at a ring of high peaks. A river drains to the west in the valley between the lake and the more distant ridge. I made the photograph in the morning as the first direct light hit the meadow and the distant mountains were still in shadow.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Consumption

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Consumption
Pile of trash piled on the sidewalk in front of upscale shops in San Francisco

Consumption. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pile of trash piled on the sidewalk in front of upscale shops in San Francisco

Yesterday we drove down to Carmel for the opening reception of the Center for Photographic Art 2018 Members’ Juried Exhibition. (One of my photographs is in the show.) The show is really beautiful, and it includes one of the most consistently high quality photographs of such shows that I’ve seen. I can be a bit of a critic at exhibits (though usually quietly…), but the work in this show is of high quality both aesthetically and technically. If you are in the Carmel area between now and early August, I urge you to visit!

But what does that have to do with this photograph? As photographers we often tend to work in silos defined, at least partially, by our own stylistic preferences and by the notions of others about the style/genre of our own work. Talk to enough photographers and you’ll almost always find that landscape photographers aren’t just landscape photographers, portrait photographers aren’t just portrait photographers, photo-journalists aren’t just interested in photographing events, and so on. (There is sometimes a bit of frustration on the part of photographers who feel that their work has been too tightly pigeon-holed.) This isn’t just about photographers — it also applies to those who love to view photographic art. It is very much worth the effort to step outside of your comfort zone, look at and try to make sense of photography that deals with subjects that may not be your favorites. There is a lot more to say about this, but I’ll stop here — after all, this is just another daily photo post! ;-)

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lupine, Sunlight

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Lupine, Sunlight
Sierra Nevada lupine blossoms in late-spring sunlight

Lupine, Sunlight. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sierra Nevada lupine blossoms in late-spring sunlight

Lupine blossoms are perhaps among the most wide-spread harbingers of spring in California. These plants grow in a tremendous variety of places, from ocean to mountains, and can be small or large. Mostly they are blue, though the colors can vary, with some almost white and others, at least in the right light, heading off in the direction of magenta or even reddish.

We were in the Sierra in early June for the opening of an exhibit in Oakhurst (“Transitions — Winter into Spring: Photographs by Yosemite Renaissance Artist-in-Residence G Dan Mitchell and Friends”) and we had a full day to do something following the reception. Although we were close to Yosemite, the idea of facing the crowds in The Valley did not appeal — so we went on a “random ride,” eventually ending up back in the Lake Edison area. I photographed these flowers as we headed back in the late afternoon and as the sunlight came from a low angle.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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