Tag Archives: Cloud

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

Evening Clouds, Tuolumne River Valley

November 25, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening clouds from dissipating afternoon thunderstorms in early evening light above the Tuolumne River Valley, Yosemite National Park.

I recently posted a photograph of wildly colorful sunset clouds made a bit earlier on this same evening this past September as I was concluding a week-long photography backpack into the Yosemite back-country. By the time I had the photograph shown here, the most psychedelic of the sunset colors had begun to fade (though the reddish coloration on the granite is from that light) and I turned my attention to the thinning clouds.

Not much earlier, these clouds had been part of a massive line-up of huge thunderstorms over Yosemite high-country. I had escaped the rains since I was now in the relative lowlands around Glen Aulin, but it was clear that these had been some powerful localized storms. But as typically happens on many Sierra evenings, the giant storms soon dissipated and the clouds thinned to transparency as the day came to an end. By the time I made this photograph only a bit of direct sunlight was striking the tops of the highest remaining clouds.

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Alcatraz and Yerba Buena Islands, San Francisco Bay, Foggy Morning Light

October 13, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

San Francisco Bay morning fog over begins to break up over Alcatraz and Yerba Buena Islands and the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge.

I made this photograph back around the start of spring in 2009. I recall shooting from the Marin Headlands back toward the Bay as the fog began to break up, still obscuring the view but allowing beams of light to begin to come through the gloom and light up portions of the Bay. Alcatraz Island is at upper left and beyond that is the Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island complex.

Many things intrigued me about this scene. Although it is in shadow still, Alcatraz stands out as the clearest object in the scene. The patterns on the water were amazing, created by a combination of the normal surface waves, the wakes of ships that had passed, and the mottled and mixed lighting of areas of fog and sun. Beyond the main subjects and over the East Bay shoreline around Oakland, light beams come down from the clearing fog.

This photograph is also an example of why I save and later review all of my raw files. Either because I don’t understand the image when I first make it or perhaps I move on to the next project too quickly sometimes it is not unusual when a photograph “slips through the cracks” and I end up overlooking it. This was one of those photographs… which I now find hard to understand.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Old Brick Building and Remnants of the High Line

October 8, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Remnants of the old right-of-way of the High Line Railway run in front of and old and run-down brick building, New York City.

There is, no doubt, a lot of history in this scene that I’m unaware of – but the visual elements mostly caught my attention as we walked past this spot. On the final morning of our August 2011 visit to New York, we were walking from West Village to Chelsea when we passed this area. My son, who lives in Brooklyn and is obsessed (in the good way!) with walking around lots of areas of New York City and making photographs and noting what he sees, first pointed out the terrace in the lower part of the scene (bounded by the railing) and the steel structure at the lower left. He told me that this was part of the High Line Railroad that used to run through this part of Manhattan. A more famous section of the High Line has become a very popular “elevated park” in Chelsea, but in this area it is pretty much just abandoned and, in places, gone.

I don’t know what the tall and worn-looking brick building is, but I’d sure like to know. My hunch, given the appearance of a former white paint job and the proximity to the railroad tracks, is that it must have been some sort of industrial building at some point.

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

Building Clouds, Upper Young Lake

September 23, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of clouds building in the sky above Upper Young Lake and Ragged Peak, Yosemite National Park.

Young Lakes in general, and the upper lake specifically are among my favorite places in the Yosemite back-country. This little Basin has a lot to offer, especially to photographers. For one thing, it is almost completely open to the west and late day light, and the upper lake is one of my favorite places to be as a summer evening comes to an end. (There is, of course, then the matter of the typical walk back to my campsite at the lower lake in the near darkness, but that just adds a bit of adventure.)

If I recall correctly, this was one of those days when I did not quite predict the weather accurately. I saw these beautiful clouds beginning to build fairly early in the day, but figured that I’d have plenty of time to get to the upper lake and perhaps even investigate some areas beyond before the weather got “interesting,” so I headed off without any real rain gear. (You know where this is leading…) Here at the upper lake, the clouds don’t look bad at all – definitely in the “interesting” category, but not all that threatening. With that in mind, after shooting here a bit I headed on up above the lake to check out some higher ridges and so forth that I’d been thinking about visiting.

Much to my surprise, within a few the wind picked up and giant raindrops began to fall. I heard a few claps of thunder. And there I was at timberline without any rain protection at all. Needless to say, I high-tailed it back down, stopping briefly to get a bit of shelter under a tree near the middle lake. Arriving back at my camp, I had the ever-so-fun opportunity to practice the skills of a somewhat wet me into my bivy sack without totally soaking my sleeping bag…

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