Tag Archives: cliff

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

Monolith, Trees, and New Snow

2 Comments
Monolith, Trees, and New Snow
Monolith, Trees, and New Snow

Monolith, Trees, and New Snow. Yosemite Valley, California. March 1, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees on a snowy bench in front of the granite face of Half Dome

With this photograph I continue on the theme of Yosemite Valley winter photographs I made back in the late winter, while there for the opening of an exhibit in the Valley. The opening was just one evening, but that meant that we had most of three days to photograph. It had been anything but a snowy winter in the Sierra, but we were fortunate to arrive not long after one of the few snowstorms, and the Valley walls and pinnacles had a thin coating of new snow.

While out in a meadow photographing other subjects I looked up and saw that some of that snow was still plastered to the vertical face of Half Dome and to the row of trees standing precariously on the ledge running down from right to left at the base of the main cliff. Such places in the Valley are very interesting to me — spots that everyone can see but which remain virtually inaccessible to all but some climbers… and to photographers with long lenses who look closely. And, yes, I’m aware of the obvious precedent when I use the term “monolith” in the title of the photograph.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are 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

Hanging Valley

Leave a comment
Hanging Valley
Hanging Valley

Hanging Valley. Yosemite Valley, California. March 1, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Yosemite’s Bridal Veil fall emerges from a hanging valley among monolithic granite cliffs in late afternoon light

Late on a winter afternoon, the shadow of cliffs to the west rise up past Yosemite’s Bridal Veil fall and into the hanging valley from which it springs. The valley’s still-sunny eastern slope is covered with brush and trees, but the rest of the scene is almost entirely one of granite, from the relatively gentle V-shaped valley of Bridal Veil Creek to the vertical cliffs of the wall over which the water flows and the base of taller Sentinel Rocks beyond.

Bridal Veil fall comes out of a classic hanging valley. Apparently the creek descended toward a much older Merced River canyon even before glaciers finished (for now, anyway!) carving Yosemite Valley, and this creek cut is own beautiful V-shaped valley. (The V-shape is characteristic of river valleys. If you want to understand more of the life of a creek, when you visit Yosemite you can drive toward Glacier Point and cross the very shallow valley of this creek at a higher elevation. I’ve cross-country skied to it a number of times.) When the Valley was cut into its deeper U-shaped form, the existing valley of Bridal Veil creek was left… hanging.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are 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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Rocky Beach, Cove, and Fog

Leave a comment
Rocky Beach, Cove, and Fog
Rocky Beach, Cove, and Fog

Rocky Beach, Cove, and Fog. Big Sur Coast, California. July 4, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A rocky beach and cove on a foggy summer morning along the Big Sur coast

On July 4 (of all days!) I headed out rather early so that I could make it to the upper Big Sur coastline before the tourist traffic arrived. I succeeded, and there were very few people when I arrived on the foggy coast and drove slowly south while looking for photographs. It being a major holiday, within a few hours the Pacific Coast Highway was filled with visitors, and I turned around and headed back home.

I like several things about this photograph, and most of them have to do with the fact that, in many ways, there is little all that special about the scene. I’m not sure that I could even find this particular cove again, at least not without some careful searching — this coastline is almost a continuum of such places, and almost anywhere you stop and look around a bit you can find such scenes. The fog is another typical element, especially in the summer months, when many visitors are surprised to find that the beautiful sunny scenes that they have seen in photographs are the exception rather than the rule. A typical summer morning in this region? Fog! To many of us Californians, however, this is part of the appeal. On a day when only a few miles inland the temperatures were well into the ninety degree range and perhaps higher, along this coastline I could enjoy the welcome and cool and damp of the coastal fog.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are 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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Big Sur Coast, Winter Light

Leave a comment
Big Sur Coast, Winter Light
Big Sur Coast, Winter Light

Big Sur Coast, Winter Light. Pacific Coast Highway, California. January 31, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rugged Big Sur coastal mountains in winter light recede into the distance

The entire Big Sur coast below Monterey, California is full of spectacular land- and seascapes, as the western edge of the continent meets the Pacific Ocean. Often as I drive the Pacific Coast Highway though this region I wonder at the improbability of the existence of the road along its length. (In fact, it is a challenge to keep it open, as there are frequent slides during winter months.)

While the region is almost entirely spectacular, things seem to become a degree wilder and bigger once I pass the inland town of Big Sur and head back out to the coast on the southward drive. Here in many places the road alternates between the edges of high ridges that drop precipitously into the sea and sections that follow along the very edge of the water. (I tend to prefer traveling south along this road, as the light is more likely to be the sort that I look for.) At this particular location, the nearby cliffs plunge into the ocean at an especially steep angle and the curve of the coastline provides extremely long views.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.