Tag Archives: Cloud

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Building And Shadow, Tuscany

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Building And Shadow, Tuscany
A cloud drifts in the sky above stone buildings in Tuscany

Building And Shadow, Tuscany. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cloud drifts in the sky above stone buildings in Tuscany

If you follow my posts you may have noticed quite a few post from Italy recently, and you might be wondering why. Have you been to Italy? ;-) OK, there are more objective reasons I can share. I make a habit of reviewing older work a year or more after I make the photographs. I see the images differently with a bit more subjective distance from the actual experience. There’s another reason, too, and it ties the place I live (California) to Italy it ways that have only recently made more sense to me. This spring and summer as I’ve walked trails in California’s grass and oak lands on warm days, it has hit me just how similar the experiences can be. And a visit to an area winery on such a day reinforced that feeling. So I suppose I’ve been enjoying both the pleasant memories of the 2016 visit from which this photograph comes and the realization that I live in a place that shares some Italy’s pleasant features.

This is one of a pair of related photographs I made at an Italian vineyard and winery we visited — both focus on the stone buildings and midday shadows. (The related image will show up here in a later post.) The vineyard centers on a very old hamlet consisting of stone buildings surrounded by vineyard. We were there in the middle of the day, and the unique Italian light was wonderful. I’m not quite sure how to describe it in words, but it has some remarkable combination of the intensity of southern light along with the softness of the Italian atmosphere.

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: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Rising Sun, Wildfire Smoke

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Rising Sun, Wildfire Smoke
Morning sun rising through a pall of wildfire smoke, east of the Sierra Nevada

Rising Sun, Wildfire Smoke. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning sun rising through a pall of wildfire smoke, east of the Sierra Nevada,

This was one of the most eerie days I have experienced in the Sierra. While it wasn’t the first of last time I’ve encountered the effects of wildfire there, this was quite different. The previous evening I had seen a bit of smoke far to the south, but didn’t think too much of it, as this was the wildfire season and such things aren’t unusual. I was camped in a deep east side valley that did not afford a distant view, so it wasn’t until I left that valley in the early morning and headed out on the east side fo the range that I saw what was happening.

I arrived at the junction of US 395 and Tioga Pass Road before dawn and found a high spot to photograph Mono Lake. It was immediately clear that a very active wildfire was building to the south and that the smoke was drifting north. It was still mostly clear above the lake, but not for long. Soon the smoke nearly obscured the view, though I continued photographing. I thought that heading north might get me away from the smoke, but now it was spreading fast and I couldn’t escape it. I made a few photographs from a high location that featured the smoke-filled Mono Basin, and then I started toward the southern Sierra. Passing again by Mono Lake I encountered some of the thickest wildfire smoke I have seen. This photograph was made under that pall, which was so dark that it barely seemed like twilight and the light of the sun was almost blocked.

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: Wildlife

Wild Horses

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Wild Horses
A herd of feral horses in high desert hill country east of the Sierra Nevada

Wild Horses. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A herd of feral horses in high desert hill country east of the Sierra Nevada.

Those of us whose orientation to the Sierra Nevada and points east comes mainly from visits as outsiders can overlook aspects of the culture and history of the area that we weren’t looking for. As someone who came to these mountains, starting many decades ago, as a camper and backpacker (and, at times skier, climber, and photographer) my orientation held that the range was mainly a place about wilderness. It is that, in many ways, but that’s not all it is. Over time I learned and accepted that there are other threads: prospecting and mining, fishing (I tried, but little luck!), ranching, and more.

This herd of feral horses is probably a remnant of some of those “other” threads. Over decades a number of horses managed to get free, and they also managed to survive rather well in some of the areas east of the Sierra. (I first saw them decades ago way out in Nevada.) I ran into this herd on an exploration into less-visited areas roughly east of Yosemite a few years back. I had rumors, but wasn’t necessarily expecting to see them — but was thrilled when I came over a low saddle and spotted them up ahead. (It might seem surprising to some that I’ve put this photograph in the “wildlife” category, but these horses are no longer domesticated critters.)

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, Photographs: Yosemite

Reflecting Pond, Meadow, Thunderheads

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Reflecting Pond, Meadow, Thunderheads
A meadow pond reflects sky and evening thunderheads.

Reflecting Pond, Meadow, Thunderheads. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A meadow pond reflects sky and evening thunderheads.

Many people probably enjoy the typical Sierra Nevada summer day. Who wouldn’t enjoy perfect blue skies, temperatures perhaps as high as the mid-seventy degree range at 8,000 feet of elevation, gentle breezes? Photographers, that’s who! Actually, we do like the comforts of warmth and sunlight — it is just that the visual environment can be a bit… bland. So, yes, a string of perfect weather days in the Sierra will often get photographers complaining.

The most typical variation in the summer weather pattern comes from monsoon moisture, sweeping up from the south and sometimes parking along the crest of the range and frequently to the east. This weather may (or may not) bring a brief shower (or downpour!), but it always brings interesting skies. This was almost one of the boring, perfect blue sky days but for the beautiful thunderheads on the other side of the Sierra crest. I headed out into this still-green meadow, where the early season flooding had receded, leaving a few pools like this one to reflect the clouds and sky.

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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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