Tag Archives: country

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Waterfall And Late-Season Lupine

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Waterfall And Late-Season Lupine
Late-season lupines bloom in rocky terrain below a high country Sierra Nevada waterfall.

Waterfall And Late-Season Lupine. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late-season lupines bloom in rocky terrain below a high country Sierra Nevada waterfall.

Our visit to this location, at 11,000′ in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, took place during the last few days of August and the first two days of September. Yes, we were there on Labor Day — and we watched lots more people show up on that last weekend! Most people regard this as the end of the backcountry season. The daylight hours decrease noticeably, and while the weather remains generally beautiful there may be a chill in the air a bit more frequently.

In a typical year the Sierra Nevada high country often becomes rather dry by this time. During August the meadows usually turn golden brown, stream flows diminish, and most wildflowers are just a memory. But in wet years – and this was one of those — there can be a colorful surprise for late-season visitors. We arrived to find lots of flowing water, meadows that still were green in many places, and even copious wildflowers. Here we found huge beds of blooming lupines, an unusual site for the start of September!

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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Keith Walklet, Yosemite Backcountry

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Keith Walklet, Yosemite Backcountry
Photographer Keith Walklet hikes past subalpine lakes in the Yosemite National Park backcountry.

Keith Walklet, Yosemite Backcountry. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographer Keith Walklet hikes past subalpine lakes in the Yosemite National Park backcountry.

This is an extra fun post for me to share because it ties a whole bunch of strings together — and it somehow manages to memorialize literally the first instant of my friendship with Keith Walklet. Back n 2008 I had heard from Charles Cramer that he and a group of fellow photographers would be spending a week or so in a Yosemite backcountry location that was very familiar to me, as part of a long term project that took them into the backcountry to make photographs every year. I mentioned that I might just backpack in on my own and look them up. I arrived in the neighborhood, but couldn’t find them, so I went ahead and set up my own solo camp and got to work exploring and photographing. A day or two later I was descending cross-country from a high, rocky lake when I spotted a heavily-laden figure coming up the valley, skirting a lake and heading my direction. Judging from the absurdly large load he was carrying I knew it was either an overburdened backpacker… or a photographer. I suspected the latter.

I quickly made a couple of exposures as he approached — mostly thinking that the figure in this landscape might be interesting. I made this photograph less than a minute before our first meeting. I had never met him, but I guessed he might be part of Charlie’s group and he confirmed. We spoke a bit — I don’t recall many details of the conversation aside from finding out where they were camped and that he was probably heading to the lake I had just left — and then I continued down canyon as he continued up. A day later I caught up with the group at their camp as I began my walk back out to the trailhead. This was the end of my trip, but it was the beginning of a longer, fulfilling journey with this band of friends: Keith, Scot, Mike, Karl, Charlie, and occasionally others. The next summer I hiked in to meet them for a couple days at their next location. The summer after that I still went in on my own, but walked with them and camped with the group for several days. And the next summer I began to participate in these wonderful expeditions every summer, spending a week or more in the glorious Sierra backcountry with a wonderful group of photographers and friends. (And, yes, we’ll be doing it again later this summer. I’ll perhaps have more to say about that later this season.)

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

Clearing Storm, Evening

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Clearing Storm, Evening
A spring storm clears in evening light, San Luis Obispo County

Clearing Storm, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A spring storm clears in evening light, San Luis Obispo County.

Late in the day had travelled across the main valley of the Carizzo Plain to a location that I thought would bring good evening light form the west. It had been a day of mixed and changeable weather conditions — sunlight one moment, rain the next, and patterns of both speeding across the landscape. My plan was to stake out a location open to the sunset light and hope for the best. It turned out OK, though clouds stood between me and the light and it never really did light up where I was standing.

However, because I was up against the mountains of the Temblor Range I had a bit of elevation, just enough to gain a wider view of the landscape. As sunset approached, breaks appeared in the cloud cover on the far side of the valley, and I was able to use a long lens to pick out vignettes from this larger landscape. This photograph makes in clear that I was shooting from the shadows, so to speak — look at the dark valley, broken by sky light reflected in water. But beyond that a newly green springtime ridge was in the sun, with beams of golden light coming through the clouds.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature

Wild Sweet Pea Flowers

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Wild Sweet Pea Flowers
Wild sweet pea flowers, Almaden Quicksilver County Park

Wild Sweet Pea Flowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Wild sweet pea flowers, Almaden Quicksilver County Park.

I made this photograph on a short hike along a familiar trail, one where I’ve gone to see wildflowers for several decades. It is not quite as exotic a location as some I travel to — in fact, it only took me about two hours to get there, do my hike, make my photographs, and return home for dinner! There’s a hint there, too — I did not photograph during the typical very early or very late hours. Instead I made this during the late afternoon. That works well in this spot since it is in a deep canyon, and the light is subdued even during main daylight hours.

I am far from an expert on wildflowers! In fact there are only a few that I can consistently name. Yet, even when I cannot recall the names — an issue I’ve always had — I recall the flowers themselves, the time of year and location where I’ll find them, and other features that characterize them.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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