Tag Archives: creek

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tree Trunks, Tyndall Creek

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Tree Trunks, Tyndall Creek
The trunks and branchs of a group of closely spaced trees high in the Sierra Nevada backcountry

Tree Trunks, Tyndall Creek. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The trunks and branchs of a group of closely spaced trees high in the Sierra Nevada backcountry.

A simple photograph of some tree trunks, of a sort you could perhaps find in locations all over the higher portions of the Sierra Nevada, can evoke a surprising number of memories and associations. While I might walk past such a thing and not take much notice, I have often spent time in the company of such trees — pausing for lunch on the trail, living among them in a high country campsite.

Some of these memories are general, which is not a surprise given that such trees are everywhere. In that light, I’ve often contemplated how such trees seem to occupy a middle ground between the relatively short lives of creatures like ourselves and the “deep time” of rocks. The trees live hundreds of years, and as they adapt to their rooted locations they can sometimes seem to have more in common with the rocks than with us. Other associations are quite specific — and this photograph takes me back to a specific location along the JMT, a place I’ve camped a number of times, and to the people I was traveling with and those we encountered on a couple of specific days.

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: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Intertwined Trunks

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Intertwined Trunks
Tightly laced tree trunks, Southern Sierra Nevada

Intertwined Trunks. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tightly laced tree trunks, Southern Sierra Nevada.

This is an older photograph that has languished in my raw file archives for nearly a decade. Back in 2010 I was on a long Southern Sierra backcountry trip with a group of friends — roughly speaking we made a giant semi-circle around Mount Whitney, starting southeast of that peak and coming out over a week later at a point considerably north. A milestone on this trip was realizing — finally! — that re-climbing that iconic peak is less profitable than spending time in many other equally beautiful places in the Sierra. At several points on this trip we found ourselves in lonely, less-visited spots, and I treasure the trip for that reason. These trees were at one of our campsites, in a location essentially right at timberline.

Everyone’s work habits are unique, but for me it is important to periodically go back and look through older photographs that didn’t “go anywhere” at the time. I inevitably find images that are worth the second look. I’ve often pondered how and why this happens. Among my theories: perhaps I simply moved on to quickly to other projects at the time, possibly I didn’t really understand how to “see” the image, my interests and perspectives have changed. Regardless, this is one reason that I’m hesitant to delete a lot of raw files — all too often I’ve gone back and found something that I was glad I kept!

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

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Plants, Redwood Forest Floor

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Plants, Redwood Forest Floor
Lush plants growing beneath redwood trees, Redwood National and State Parks

Plants, Redwood Forest Floor. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lush plants growing beneath redwood trees, Redwood National and State Parks.

One morning while visiting the Redwood National and State Parks in early June we headed away from the more heavily-visited areas on a hunch, and we ended up in a very quite place where no one else was around. It was an area full of tall trees, plentiful undergrowth, a few rhododendron flowers, and the deep quiet and stillness that characterizes such places. We lingered along a section of trail where there were lots of redwood forest undergrowth plants.

If you haven’t photographed deep in a redwood forest, you would probably be surprised by just how dark it can be, even in the daylight hours. When photographing there I often find myself caught between the need to get enough depth of field (small aperture) and keep a short enough shutter speed to stop the constant slight motion of the plants in subtle breezes. I end up raising ISO and, still, sometimes find myself with shutter speeds measured in seconds! This little grouping was entirely green, of course, but the taller plants were a bit lighter and stood out against the background bed of redwood sorrel.

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.

Commentary, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

,Autumn Aspens, Cliff

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Autumn Aspens, Cliff
Autumn aspen trees cling to ledges along the face of a cliff in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspens, Cliff. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn aspen trees cling to ledges along the face of a cliff in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

The aspens in this photograph have fascinated me for years. Nearby are some relatively large, tall, and straight trees, but for the most part the trees in this scene are small, slender, and sometimes even a bit misshapen. They manage to eke out a living on what appears to be solid rock as they send their roots into narrow cracks.

These trees seem to have, at least in my experience, a fairly short period of maximum color. Or at least that is what I tell myself when looking to explain why I have somehow almost always missed their best color. But it also appears that they change colors earlier than some of the other trees in the area — I made this photograph just past the middle of September, nearly two weeks before the typical start of the more widespread fall color season in the Sierra.

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.