Tag Archives: Cloud

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

Sierra Wave, Mounts Dana and Gibbs

July 19, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening Sierra wave clouds build above Mounts Dana and Gibbs along the Sierra crest.

This is how the show began, though I had my suspicions much earlier in the afternoon. When conditions are right, a “Sierra wave” cloud formation can form along and just to the east of the Sierra Nevada crest. It can be a long, undulating cloud formation, sometimes with many stacked layers — think of lenticular clouds that are many tens of miles long. The clouds simply sit above the crest, unmoving (though subtly transitioning in form) for hours. They are very impressive in broad daylight, but in the evening when conditions are right they are lit by the last sun coming from far west of the range, and the colors can be quite nearly unbelievable.

I first saw some interesting potential clouds shortly after noon, and I began to keep an eye on them. As evening approached I thought that perhaps they might dissipate or dissolve enough that the shape would not be compelling, though some sunset color was certainly a possibility. I set out to photograph something else entirely, slowly wandering up to the far end of a subalpine meadow by myself and photographing for perhaps an hour and a half. At this point the clouds looked like they were starting to hold greater potential for something quite special, so with about 45 minutes remaining before sunset I began to head back to the western edge of the meadow, from which this view included the clouds, the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne Meadow, and the summits of Mounts Dana and Gibbs. If you are wondering if the color finally developed… stay tuned!

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Dust Storm, Dunes, Evening Light

June 25, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A dust storm rages above sand dunes at the end of the day, Death Valley National Park

This was a wild evening, featuring an apocalyptic combination of tremendously strong winds, huge clouds of blowing sand and dust, periodic downpours of rain, and light that changed constantly from ominous and dark to luminous clouds backlit by sun to threads of virgo, and more. I had never seen quite this combination of conditions in Death Valley at one time.

Photography was quite challenging. Because sunset was approaching (and I continued to photograph into the dusk), it was often quite dark. The screaming winds made it virtually impossible to shoot from the tripod, so I was mostly reduced to bracing my camera against the window frame of my vehicle and working with the camera handheld. In the rough conditions I was forced to work from a distance with a long lens, since photographing inside the windblown clouds of dust and sand was not a good idea. Here the clouds and the dust above the sand dunes momentarily thinned, creating a backlit glow from the low angle sun about to drop behind mountains to the west.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

SFMOMA, Cloud

June 16, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A cloud above the new SFMOMA building

I think my landscape photographer instincts went to work on this photograph, despite its thoroughly urban subject. But imagine a valley floor, a vertical granite cliff, peaks beyond, and a cloud floating past and I think you might see the analogy. But this is a distinctly San Francisco street/architecture photograph.

I was on foot in The City, spending the better part of a day wandering around in an area bounded by the Embarcadero and the Bay, Market street more or less, and Fourth Street. I was headed south on a less crowded street, traveling more or less toward the newly remodeled SFMOMA (museum of modern art). I had been looking a the tall building on the right and the bit of the new portion of the museum poking out to its left when the solitary cloud appeared from behind the building and began to move from right to left. Having very little time to contemplate, I framed up this vertical composition and made the photograph “street” style, using the prime lens already on the camera and simply shooting handheld

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

Meadow, Forest, Cloud-Shrouded Peak

June 10, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cloud-shrouded Mount Conness towers above the domes and forest of Tuolumne Meadows

I’ll take a break from the recent urban, night, and street photography and go back to the high country with a photograph from about this time a year ago. I spent a few days in the Tuolumne Meadows area, photography in the high elevation areas of the park. This was a particularly memorable evening that started without a specific plan, led to a surprise meeting with friends and photographs, including a hike down a river to a lovely area of granite slabs, and concluded with sunset back in the big meadow.

As we came back up the river we split up — some heading up onto a nearby high prominence and others (that would be me!) hanging out along the edge of the meadow, between the base of a granite dome and a large herd of grazing deer. As the final sun light touched the tops of the highest peaks, fog formed around the summit of Mt. Conness up along the Sierra crest.

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