Tag Archives: cliff

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

The Old Cypress

Image July 26, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Recently California and the West have been suffering through long periods of extreme heat. Fortunately, I live close enough to the coast that I can get over there on the worst days. I knew it was going to be hot so I got up early and drove to Point Lobos just south of Carmel, where I found thick fog and temperatures in the upper 50s. The fog typically pulls back from the coast fairly quickly on hot days, but this time it stuck around in o the afternoon. I spent the morning hours photographing here before heading back home where it ended up about 40 degrees warmer.

This is a fascinating specimen of Monterey cypress, a tree that is native here and only a couple of other locations. At Point Lobos many of them grow along the edges of steep cliffs, especially along the north shore, and this old tree is hanging onto its perch seeming by a thread.

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.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspens in a Row

Image December 13, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A row of colorful autumn aspen trees against a backdrop of rugged rocks.

Along the base of this rocky face, which parallels the shoreline of a subalpine eastern Sierra lake, aspen trees try to grow with the classic tall and straight form. They almost succeed, but the rocky soil seems to hold them back, and while they are fairly straight they are not that tall. However, because they are in the shadow of a ridge yet open to the light on the other side, they pick up lovely soft and reflected light.

Our initial plans did not work out on this morning. We arrived at a high-country lake hoping to find reflections of aspens and the surrounding peaks. Instead we encountered strong winds and rough water on the lake. There were no good reflections and leaves were coming down in the wind. However, there are almost always alternative subjects, and by using a long lens I was able to photograph these trees across the valley.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspens, Rocky Face

Image November 18, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small group of autumn aspen trees grows against an Eastern Sierra Nevada rock face.

Aspen trees present in all sorts of fascinating ways — individual trees, huge groves, short, tall, straight, bent, in full color, still partially green, almost bare, in valleys, on ridges, among other trees. I think they are all photographable, but I am especially attracted to colorful trees set against rocky slopes. The contrasts are fascinating — the bright yellow of the trees and the blue-gray of rocks, the slender fragility of aspens and the solid character of stone.

This photograph was almost — but not quite — an afterthought. I had gone to a location to photograph a different subject, but conditions were not favorable for that original plan. So I looked around and saw small groups of trees across the valley, each of them standing at the base of rocky slopes. Working quickly before the bright direct sun arrived, I photographed them in the soft, shadow light.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Light and Color

Image November 3, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Light through seasonal haze illuminates autumn trees in Yosemite Valley.

I have a few seasonal rituals, things I do and places I go every year. Visiting Yosemite Valley during its fall color season is high on the list. The Valley has color, but it comes later than the Eastern Sierra aspen transition. So I made one of my epic one-day up-and-back visits earlier this week. The plan: up hours before dawn, a four-hour drive to arrive just after sunrise, a few hours of morning photography, midday naps, more late-day photography… and then the four-hour drive back home again..

It is exhausting, but it is also exhilarating to see the peak color there once again, to renew my acquaintance with familiar subjects, and to investigate a few new ones. I know this specific location quite well — and if you visit the Valley much you probably know it, too. A gap in the Valley’s cliffs to the south-southwest allows beams of light to reach the valley floor and progress across the meadow and trees. I made a plan to be there for this light, and I made this photograph just as the light passed across this group of black oaks.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: cliff

The Old Cypress

Autumn Light and Color

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