Tag Archives: cliff

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

Beach Walkers, Winter Sunset

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Winter Sunset, Panther Beach

Beach Walkers, Winter Sunset. Pacific Coast, California. January 11, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of beachwalkers cross the sand before sunset at the end of a winter day.

I made this photograph last winter, but didn’t rediscover it until yesterday when I had the opportunity to go back though some work from early this year. It is probably another case of initially viewing the photograph from the perspective of what I thought I was shooting at the time – and it wasn’t successful from that perspective – versus coming back to it with some aesthetic distance and seeing it for what it is. It also helped, I think, to lose some of the sky and present it as a 2:1 ratio panoramic format.

This was actually my first visit to this particular beach. I had driven past many times without stopping, but for some reason on this evening I pulled over and wandered down to the beach, shooting there and from the bluffs above the beach.

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: beach, california, county, Dusk, evening, nature, pacific ocean, sand, Santa Cruz, seascape, seashore, sky, Sunset, travel, water, waves, winter, panther, rock, pacific, ocean, coast, shoreline, shore, nature, outdoor, hike, walk, scenic, landscape, bluff, cliff, stock, people, man, woman

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lower Slopes of Picture Peak, Hungry Packer Lake

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Lower Slopes of Picture Peak, Hungry Packer Lake
Lower Slopes of Picture Peak, Hungry Packer Lake

Lower Slopes of Picture Peak, Hungry Packer Lake. John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. August 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The snow fields, cliffs, and talus fields of Picture Peak tower above the upper end of Hungry Packer Lake, John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California.

Hungry Packer Lake is a short walk up the valley from Topsy Turvy Lake, where we camped during our recent visit to upper Sabrina Basin in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Hungry Packer is a classic, high alpine Sierra Lake with glacier polished rocks, meadows, and a some trees at the bench where the outlet stream leaves the lake and rugged rocks and talus slopes around the upper portion of the lake – with the towering mass of Picture Peak overhead. It is “my Sierra” – the sort of place that first comes to mind for me when I think of this mountain range.

We only visited for a short time, as we were on a circuit hike to visit about four of these high lakes, and the light was a bit tough during this midday period. Consequently I decided to go for a tighter shot of the lake surface and the tremendous talus slope, rock faces, and snowfields at the upper end of the lake – all with a plan to render the photo in black and white.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening, Picture Peak and Sailor Lake

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Evening, Picture Peak and Sailor Lake

Evening, Picture Peak and Sailor Lake. John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. August 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light at the rocky outlet of Sailor Lake with Picture Peak and Mount Haeckel beyond.

On the third night of our early August trip into the upper Sabrina Basin in the eastern Sierra I decided to grab an early dinner and then wander with my camera gear up towards the vicinity of Hungry Packer and Sailor Lakes to do some evening photography. I first went back to the outlet stream from Hungry Packer Lake, where I had found a wonderful patch of blooming lupine flowers earlier in the day. I photographed these just as the shadow line from the nearby ridge was shading them. (I’m hopeful that I’ll have a shot or two from that area a bit later.)

After finishing here I decided to more or less follow the light back to the east across the valley. This area roughly bounded by Topsy Turvy, Moonlight, Sailor, and Hungry Packer lakes is what a photographer might describe as a “target rich environment” – I’d love to go back and spend a number of days just shooting here. There are lakes, intimate meadows broken up by glacial boulders and granite benches, plenty of wildflowers, water everywhere (in lakes, ponds, and streams), waterfalls and cascades, and many small stands of alpine trees. During the good light times of the day there is more or less too much to shoot!

This photograph was made near the outlet stream from Sailor Lake and looks up toward the impressive mass of Picture Peak above Hungry Packer Lake – just as a cooperative group of early evening clouds conveniently floated behind the peak. This sort of place is what I think of most when I think of the Sierra – high, rocky areas just below timberline, threaded with streams and meadows and rocks and some trees, and with high, snowy peaks all around.

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.

keywords: sailor, lake, john, muir, wilderness, alpine, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, outlet, stream, sabrina, basin, ridge, picture, peak, crest, mount, haeckel, evening, sky, cloud, rock, plant, tree, snow, glacier, alpine, cliff, granite, landscape, water, reflection, flow, scenic, hike, backpack, camp, california, usa, stock, unnamed, s

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

Shoreline, Upper Young Lake, Sunset

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Shoreline, Upper Young Lake, Sunset

Shoreline, Upper Young Lake, Sunset. Yosemite National Park, California. July 29, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light on shoreline trees and rocks below rocky hillside above Upper Young Lake, Yosemite National Park.

This is another in the series of photographs I made on this late-July evening at Upper Young Lake, my favorite of the three in this string of Young Lakes in the Sierra Nevada back-country out of Tuolumne Meadows. This photograph was shot in the last moments before the sun, shining through a bit of smoke from a wildfire in the park, dropped below the rim of the high meadow holding the lake.

I probably could have stayed at this lake and photographed post-sunset light for another half hour beyond sunset. However, the thought of hiking in the dark down a mile-long trail that in places is more cross country than actual trail convinced me to pack up and leave shortly after this.

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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