Tag Archives: country

Backpacking and Photography

June 1, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This is the time of year when many of us find our thoughts turning the the upcoming backpacking season. (My home range is the Sierra Nevada, where I have backpacked for decades.) During the past week or two I’ve seen an upsurge in discussions of and questions about photography and backpacking. Several years ago I began posting annual updates on my approach to photography in the backcountry: “Backpacking Photography Equipment.”

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

Dead Branch, Glaciated Granite

February 11, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A dead branch lies on glacially-polished granite in the Yosemite National Park back-country.

I made a promise to someone to not say where this photograph was made – I’ll just say it is in Yosemite National Park. But the exact location really doesn’t matter too much, as these large expanses of glaciated granite slab are a common feature throughout the park, and you could find similarly interesting geology in thousands of locations.

I was a little surprised to find this weathered branch in this location, since it was a good distance from any trees and also not near any flowing water. Besides its location, a few other things about it caught my attention. First, its curving shapes lined up in a way tht seems to tie in with the bit of glacially-polished granite that lies beneath it. (And, yes, this is exactly where the branch was when I found it.) In a way, the larger shape of the lighter area of granite winding across the photograph from side to side almost seems like a much thicker echo of the curving shape of the branch. In addition, the warm brown tones of the branch seem to stand out a bit – though perhaps more in a larger print – against the relatively drab color of the rock.

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

Autumn Light, Yosemite High Country

September 26, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late season evening light on a trees and a small meadow near Upper Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

After hiking up from Lower Young Lake and arriving at the upper lake well before the good light I wandered off along the southwest shoreline of Upper Young Lake to scope out photographic subjects for the “good light” period that was going to start very soon. First I walked along the shoreline where I found several prospective shots of a rock outcropping with trees at the end of a peninsula that curves into the lake. I kept walking along the shoreline and found a few more interesting formations with the backdrop of the more distant hillside leading to the ridge that runs along the edge of the basin. Eventually I worked my way a bit beyond the lake to a point where small, grassy gullies began to drop toward the steeper terrain leading to the next lake down the valley, and here I found some interesting backlit trees and boulders, again with the hazy image of the more distance hillside beyond.

This photograph was made pointing almost directly toward the lowering sun – it is actually just a bit to the right and behind some rocks and trees that are out of the frame. Because it was so close to the end of the day – and because of the late time of the season – the light soon became very saturated and warm colored. To me this scene says “end of summer” in the high country – while it is still comfortable and the winters snowfall is still weeks in the future, there is a time in September when the days shorter, the grasses turn golden brown, the aspen color is only weeks away, and most of the tourists have left when the changing of the seasons can no longer be denied.

This photograph is 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

Ice, Water, and Reflected Clouds

July 5, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of clouds reflected in the surface of shoreline water on a frozen alpine lake, Yosemite National Park.

Once I discovered the reflections of evening clouds in this narrow band of water between the ice and the shoreline of this frozen lake, I managed to make several exposures as the clouds continuously moved past. (I earlier posted a color photograph taken at about the same time.) As I went through the group of images I wanted to try one in a black and white rendition and this one seemed like the of the bunch for that interpretation.

Since the “abstractness” of this scene is what drew me to it, I decided to run with that idea in this version. Although it may not be apparent, this interpretation is the result of more post-processing work than was the case with the similar color photograph.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

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.

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