Tag Archives: country

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Outcropping, White Mountains, Morning

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Outcropping, White Mountains, Morning
Outcropping, White Mountains, Morning

Outcropping, White Mountains, Morning. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 10, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The White Mountains with new snow and morning clouds tower above a spire in the Buttermilks above Bishop, California

In early October, my excuse for going – yet again – to the eastern Sierra was, of course, to shoot the beautiful fall color of the aspen trees. That is reason enough to head over there, and I go every fall. And I did photograph aspens while I was over there. But my little secret is that there is a lot more than aspens to photograph on the East Side in the fall, and while aspens were always on my mind, photographing them took up less than half of our time overall.

The first day of the visit was devoted largely to travel, and the travel took longer than usual because a fall snow storm was passing through, closing passes so that we had to cross the Sierra much further north than usual, and then slowing the drive down highway 395. (The slow drive was partially due to road conditions, but perhaps more due to interesting photographic conditions that led to a lot of side trips and stops along the way.) On the second morning I knew that there would be a layer of fresh snow on the east facing slopes of the crest above Owens Valley, so we drove up into the Buttermilk area above Bishop to photograph there at dawn. After finishing up there we headed back down to pick up the road up into the Bishop Creek drainage. As we drove I saw some of the interesting pinnacles of the Buttermilks catching the morning sun as the huge ridge of the White Mountains, also covered with new snow, towered over on the other side of Owens Valley.

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.
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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: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Maple and Sorrel, Redwood Grove

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Maple and Sorrel, Redwood Grove
Maple and Sorrel, Redwood Grove

Maple and Sorrel, Redwood Grove. Muir Woods National Monument, California. August 1, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old maple tree leans above a bed of redwood sorrel in a redwood grove at Muir Woods National Monument

Of the group of photographs I made on this early August morning at Muir Woods National Monument, this may be the darkest scene of all. Almost no direct sunlight had yet penetrated down into this section of the forest, with the exception of a few odd beams striking here and there among the higher branches, and one coming across the forest floor from the right side of the frame.

Redwood trees here are generally quite straight and bulky. With the exception of those that have fallen or are leaning over, they forma a continuous pattern of vertical lines. Breaking up this verticality are the curving shapes of trees like the laurel, and in this scene a thick, old maple tilts wildly to the right at a 45-degree angle, and is the form that initially attracted me to this spot. The forest floor here is almost covered with redwood sorrel, a clover-like plant that puts out small blossoms earlier in the year. The light, of course, is soft and the whole scene is in deep shade.

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.
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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: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Plants in Sandstone Cliff

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Plants in Sandstone Cliff
Plants in Sandstone Cliff

Plants in Sandstone Cliff. Zion National Park, Utah. October 14, 2012. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Plants grow in cracks in a sandstone cliff in the Zion National Park high country

For some reason, the small area where this cliff is found – along the Mount Carmel Highway – holds some fascination for me, and I have stopped here to photograph quite a few times. (This despite the fact that there is no good place to pull over!) In close proximity there are a small stream bed, some beautiful trees growing near the cliff, a section of much more fractured rock, and this cliff of clean, straight rock cut by vertical cracks and crossed by the diagonal lines formed by the texture of the sandstone.

In different light this section of the cliff can be a lot more red, but here I photographed it in shaded light and the tones shifted significantly towards blue. The small plants seem to survive quite well growing it what seems like an impossible location, and when I made the photograph the one on the right was just beginning to take on fall colors. A closer view reveals that the rock’s surface is covered with a wide variety of types of lichen, much of it a bit too small to make out in this web-sized 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.
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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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

High Country Desert Canyon

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High Country Desert Canyon
High Country Desert Canyon

High Country Desert Canyon. Death Valley National Park, California. April 6, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A back-country gravel road twists through the upper reaches of a colorful mountain canyon, Death Valley National Park

The gravel back-country road might be hard to spot in this photograph, but if you look closely near the lower right you may see it twisting around a bend before crossing the canyon behind the rocky prominence at the bottom of the frame. The road begins in desert sagebrush country, then rises to cross the Amargosa Range before descending, sometimes precipitously, down toward the main Death Valley.

Some things about photographing this subject are easy and obvious, but others are a bit challenging and require some attention and then some resistance to trying to turn the scene into something it isn’t. What is easy about this subject? I am endlessly fascinated by winding canyons with overlapping ridges that descend toward the bottom of the canyon, creating a back and forth weave of form. Here the canyon winds from right (at the top) to left to right to left to right to left and, finally, back to the left. And the colors and textures are remarkable, ranging from the very dark rocks at the bottom, through the much lighter slopes right above to the rather reddish rock in the far, upper portion of the canyon. What is hard about it? In many ways, it is easy to pass right through such an area and overlook what it offers, since there really is not single, central, and iconic “thing” to focus the attention. Instead, I almost have to remind myself to slow down, to stop, and to just look… and finally the way to photograph such subjects begins to reveal itself. In addition, because the color palette of this land is so subtle, including mostly pastel shades that subtly contrast with one another, it is important, I think, to resist the ever-present temptation to hype it up into something it isn’t.

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.