Tag Archives: canyon

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

Mount Morgan and Slopes of McGee Mountain, Morning

October 18, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Morning light on the lower slopes of McGee Mountain, the McGee Creek Canyon area and snow-capped Mount Morgan, with Owens Valley sagebrush and hills in the foreground.

I began my early morning shoot in Owens Valley near a small lake further to the east where I wanted to photograph dawn light. I had a plan to shoot a few other subjects in the valley and back toward the Sierra crest as the sun rose and the light changed, and part of this plan included driving along a gravel road I know to a spot where I had photographed before to try to combine the high desert sagebrush and rolling hills with some of the tall and rugged, snow-topped peaks along the escarpment of the eastern Sierra. I found a spot in the general area of where I wanted to photograph and then wandered off down a small dirt track to find a location that would put the foreground shadow across the lower part of the frame.

The area of the Sierra in this photograph includes the sunlit lower slopes of McGee Mountain on the right, McGee Creek Canyon beyond that, and ridges leading to the snow-capped summit of Mount Morgan. I’m not certain whether they are visible in this photograph, but beyond that lies Pioneer Basin (on the other side of the crest) and a group of four peaks named for the “Railroad Barons” of the 1800s: Crocker, Stanford, Huntington, and Hopkins.

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: owens, valley, sage, sagebrush, hills, high, desert, mount, morgan, snow, capped, peak, ridg

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Eastern Sierra Nevada, Alkali Lake, Dawn

October 17, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 7 Comments

Snow-dusted peaks of the eastern Sierra Nevada near Mammoth Lakes illuminated by dawn light and reflected in the surface of an Owens Valley alkali lake.

I like to stay flexible when I photograph so even though my original reason for traveling to the eastern Sierra was to photograph fall aspen color, when it seemed that other subjects might be just as interesting I switched gears and headed out into Owens Valley to photograph this high desert region and the morning views from there of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada. I first got this idea the previous morning while driving towards some prospective aspen color before dawn when I saw the outlines of fog over Crowley Lake and other areas of the valley. I ended up shooting along Hot Creek as fog rose from the water and the Sierra crest broke through in the distance. (Photos of that scene will likely appear here later on.) On my way to Hot Creek I passed this lake and decided not to stop since it looked like photography workshop participants were already crowded along one shore.

The next morning I once again thought that I’d start my day out in Owens Valley. This time I went straight to this lake – which I believe is known as “Little Alkali Lake” – and found it completely deserted and the water totally still. It remained that way as I made my way to the far shore and set up before sunrise. In this part of Owens Valley, on cold mornings there are clouds and columns of steam rising all around, coming from the many hot springs that remind one of the volcanic forces hidden just below the surface of this area. Some of the steam sources are visible across the lake in the photograph. Soon the dawn light began to touch the highest peaks and then work its way down toward the rolling hills of the valley floor, reflected in the smooth water of this small lake. This part of the Sierra includes an impressive group of peaks including Mounts Morrison, Baldwin, and Morgan along with McGee Mountain.

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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Maiden Lane, New York City

October 2, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Black and white photograph of narrow urban canyon that is Maiden Lake, in the financial district of New York City.

This street scene is in lower Manhattan, not far from the site of the World Trade Center towers. The morning light seems especially interesting on this curving street as the sun manages to penetrate all the way to the street level and the illuminated fronts of the buildings lining the “concrete canyon” are visible due to the curve.

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.

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

Autumn Light, Yosemite High Country

September 26, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late season evening light on a trees and a small meadow near Upper Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

After hiking up from Lower Young Lake and arriving at the upper lake well before the good light I wandered off along the southwest shoreline of Upper Young Lake to scope out photographic subjects for the “good light” period that was going to start very soon. First I walked along the shoreline where I found several prospective shots of a rock outcropping with trees at the end of a peninsula that curves into the lake. I kept walking along the shoreline and found a few more interesting formations with the backdrop of the more distant hillside leading to the ridge that runs along the edge of the basin. Eventually I worked my way a bit beyond the lake to a point where small, grassy gullies began to drop toward the steeper terrain leading to the next lake down the valley, and here I found some interesting backlit trees and boulders, again with the hazy image of the more distance hillside beyond.

This photograph was made pointing almost directly toward the lowering sun – it is actually just a bit to the right and behind some rocks and trees that are out of the frame. Because it was so close to the end of the day – and because of the late time of the season – the light soon became very saturated and warm colored. To me this scene says “end of summer” in the high country – while it is still comfortable and the winters snowfall is still weeks in the future, there is a time in September when the days shorter, the grasses turn golden brown, the aspen color is only weeks away, and most of the tourists have left when the changing of the seasons can no longer be denied.

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.

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