Tag Archives: cliff

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

Tree Trunks, Autumn Leaves

November 12, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Against a background of Yosemite Valley granite cliffs, tall tree trunks tower above autumn color

It isn’t unusual for me to try both a portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) version of a photograph when both are possible. If for no other reason, sometimes a client may wish to license an image in a specific orientation, and I hate to say, “Uh, no” when asked if the other one is available! But in other cases, the subject really works both ways, and I feel like this is one such subject. A few days ago I shared a landscape orientation photograph of this subject. In some ways that wider-than-tall approach to trees can do a better job of suggesting the height of something by perhaps creating a subliminal impression that the subject is so tall that it doesn’t fit the frame — and the viewer gets to imagine what is “up there.” On the other hand, the portrait orientation can actually present the strong verticals with fewer distractions.

This photograph, and others in the series, were made near a popular and iconic Yosemite Valley location where I had stopped for a moment. Nearby, and in the opposition direction from that icon, there is a lovely bit of dry grass meadow dotted with small oak trees, and my object was to go photograph there. One thing led to the next and I soon found myself in a small clearing next to these tall trucks that had recently been burned a bit in a management fire.

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

Clearing Autumn Storm, Cliffs, Evening

November 4, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Storm clouds clear from cliffs above Yosemite Valley

No doubt I have mentioned, likely quite a few times, that I love the fall through early spring season in Yosemite Valley — for many reasons but the clouds are at the top of my list. During the cooler season lots of interesting things happen in the atmosphere of and above the Valley, from morning mists in the meadows to the clouds of dissipating storms clinging to the upper slopes. Although this wasn’t the first “weather” of the season in the Valley, it was my first time this fall to be there for the show.

On the day I arrived there was quite a bit of rain, which soon began to pass, leaving behind beautiful light and fog and those thinning clouds. I arrived in the Valley in the afternoon and began following the light, and near sunset I ended up in a meadow with a clear view of an interesting section of the higher valley walls, where the cloud and light show was just beginning. I put a long lens on the camera and began to watch spires and trees appear and disappear as the clouds moved past. The action was continuous and I photographed almost without break as the light took on the warmer tones of evening, making this photograph shortly before the sun dropped behind mountains to the west and shadows replaced the light.

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

Burned Forest, Autumn Color

November 1, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn colors in a forest of burned trees, Yosemite Valley

During this final weekend of October I spent a few days photographing in the Yosemite area, including along the road between Oakhurst and the Valley and then in Yosemite Valley itself. I had quite varied weather conditions — pouring rain on the first day as I drove up from the Bay Area, beautiful evening and morning fog followed by a sunny autumn day, and then a weather forecast of heavy rain that convinced me to beat a retreat from the park a day early.

Late on the second afternoon I stopped at a very popular and iconic location in the Valley, but I walked the other way, heading out into an area of rock, dry meadow and oak trees that gradually transitioned into conifer trees and big leaf maples, the latter being at their peak of fall color. Knowing the Valley pretty well at this point, I often prefer to look past the big sights and just wander, and that’s what I did here, eventually ending up in an area that had been burned recently by a management fire, clearing out the underbrush and charring the lower trunks of tall trees. In fact, the lower trunks were so affected that there were no branches to obstruct the view of the maples just beyond or of the vertical granite cliffs a bit further away.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Canyon Narrows

June 14, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Twisting narrows in a desert canyon, Death Valley

On a late spring day of wind and sand storms in Death Valley National Park — and after several days of such conditions — we retreated to one of the deep and narrow desert canyons for an afternoon. After a short walk across the upper edges of a giant alluvial fan, we dropped into the lower reaches of the canyon and headed uphill. Soon the path entered the base of the range and the walls began to narrow, and the wide open world of the desert floor was invisible to us.

The canyons of Death Valley are in some ways similar to the more famous slot canyons of the Southwest. Both are formed by water coursing down narrow canyons, sometimes at high rates that rearrange the geography of the canyons significantly. But there are differences. Here the canyons are most often dry — a year round water supply in such Death Valley places is not typical. And the rock is not the familiar red sandstone of the Southwest, but here a more contorted and broken and often less colorful rock. But sections are very beautiful, and there is something very magical about this section of this canyon, as it narrows and passed between inward curving walls.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: cliff

Tree Trunks, Autumn Leaves

Clearing Autumn Storm, Cliffs, Evening

Burned Forest, Autumn Color

Canyon Narrows

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