Tag Archives: cathedral

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Boulders, Cathedral Range, Sunset

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Boulders, Cathedral Range, Sunset
Sunset light on glacial erratic boulders and the distant peaks of the Cathedral Range, Yosemite National Park.

Boulders, Cathedral Range, Sunset. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light on glacial erratic boulders and the distant peaks of the Cathedral Range, Yosemite National Park.

This backcountry photography trip followed a somewhat different format for our group. It was somewhere between a base camp trip and a through hike. The group often heads into the backcountry, sets up a base camp, photographs the heck out of the surrounding area for a week, and then goes back out. But this time we more or less split the difference between the two modes. First we spent a few days at a lovely, quiet Yosemite backcountry lake, and then we moved on to another location that put us closer to the trailhead of our exit route.

The first location’s lake sits in a bowl high on a forested ridge, dropping off on one side into a very impressive river canyon. The fact that it sits along that river’s drainage means that there is a lot of open country between it and higher Sierra ridges, including the distant peaks in this evening photograph. They belong to the Cathedral Range, a series of ridges and peaks cutting across the Yosemite high country and contributing greatly to the rocky, alpine character of the Tuolumne High Sierra region.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Across The Tuolumne

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Across The Tuolumne
Looking across the canyon of the Tuolumne River toward the Cathedral Range, evening.

Across The Tuolumne. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Looking across the canyon of the Tuolumne River toward the Cathedral Range, evening.

This is the second in a sort of sequence of three photographs made one after the other on a late summer evening as I approached, topped, and descended from a high overlook in the Yosemite backcountry. The specific terrain of this area high in the Tuolumne River drainage lends itself to such views. Because the river is large and the upper drainage expansive, from many ridges and peaks one can look over vast swaths of the park’s highlands. And there are many such high points along the edges of this drainage and even along ridges that cut across it.

I made this photograph late in the day as the shadows were lengthening and the color of the light was warming. The atmosphere is hazy, a natural condition in the late season, when wildfires begin to increase throughout the west. Those familiar with this area can probably pick out quite a few Sierra landmarks.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Exfoliation

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Exfoliation
Granite slabs littered with exfoliated boulders, Yosemite Naitonal Park.

Exfoliation. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Granite slabs littered with exfoliated boulders, Yosemite Naitonal Park.

As is our pattern in the backcountry, by late afternoon each of photographers in our group had “headed out” find subjects to photograph in late-day light. There was a lot to work with in the area surrounding the lake where we were camped; low ridges, the shoreline of the lake, forest, meadow with boulders, granite slabs, and even actual mountains if you walked far enough.

I decided to wander to the other side of our lake, where a granite dome rise above the water… and dropped of precipitously into a gigantic canyon on the other side. I decided that I would approach from one side, cross the summit close to sunset, and then return to camp by descending a ridge on the other side. The angle of the light was quite low as I crossed granite slabs to a low spot between the dome and another low hill, and the slabs were covered with boulders that appeared to be remnants of the process of exfoliation.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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, Photographs: Yosemite

Trees, Boulders, Shoreline

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Trees, Boulders, Shoreline
Boulders and trees along the shoreline of a Yosemite backcountry lake.

Trees, Boulders, Shoreline. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Boulders and trees along the shoreline of a Yosemite backcountry lake.

This dense and complex little scene caught my attention as I slowly wandered around the periphery of this Yosemite backcountry lake early in the morning a few years ago. I often look for a sort of compositional simplicity in photographs — some basic, underlying form that encompasses the elements — but sometimes I like to head off in the opposite direction and play with the idea of including lots of components in the scene. If I didn’t do this occasionally, I think I’d have to leave a lot of subjects out of my photography. So, yes, there’s a lot going on here: a couple of vertical lines from trees; a jumble of small trees and plants, the shapes and textures of the boulders, and even a bit of reflection in the water.

I made the photograph at a particular moment in the evolution of the morning light at this location. Because I was out and about very early, the first light I experienced was the soft, bluish light of the pre-dawn time. Before long the sun began to hit some of the surrounding peaks, and as this light spread it began to reflect warmer light in to the still-shaded parts of the landscape. At this point the light is still soft, but it is gradually and almost imperceptibly warming and becoming a bit more directional.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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