Tag Archives: creek

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Leaves on Snow

October 17, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Frost covered autumn aspen leaves lying on new-fallen snow, Sierra Nevada

Early October is the time of the annual aspen color transition in the eastern Sierra Nevada. For me, the combination of the dramatic color change and the seasonal weather changes clearly denote the fact that summer is over and that we are heading toward the cold part of the year. (I like this – I find that the fall through spring seasons are more photographically compelling, and I’m no longer a “hot weather person.”) While October in the Sierra can bring some beautiful and even warm days, there is not question that nights are both longer and colder, and the occasional passing weather front will drop enough snow to make it feel distinctly winter-like.

Although we knew that much of the iconic color at North Lake had already passed, we decided to go there anyway on this morning and look for more subtle things that remain. The road past the lake is on a north slope and we drove through plenty of recent snow as we passed along this shoreline in 22 degree temperatures. As expected, most of the trees had lost their leaves already, though we also found some trees that still held enough colorful leaves to make the visit well worth our time. And, when those leaves fall, they don’t simply disappear! On a snowy morning like this one they collect in piles on top of the snow, providing beautiful little compositions and highlighting the intensity of their colors.

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

Redwood Creek

September 19, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Redwood creek flows though lush forest at Muir Woods National Monument, California

This was more or less the first photograph I made on this August early morning visit to Muir Woods National Monument, and its main redwood groves. I had arrived very early – well before the park opened and other visitors arrived – and I was almost all alone as the first morning light begin to filter down through trees into this valley.

The photograph was made at a rather prosaic location, the first footbridge on the main “nature trail” though the popular monument. However, being here so early, I had the rare opportunity to set my tripod up on the bridge without having to worry about inconveniencing other visitors (there weren’t any!) or waiting for the bridge to stop vibrating as hordes of people walked across. And, yes, that is an issue here, since when I shoot at low ISOs and small apertures I often end up with exposure times measured in seconds when shooting in the deep shade of the redwood forest. One of the most challenging things when shooting in this lush environment, at least for me, is to try to tease a coherence composition out of scenes that often include a ton of detail. This is certainly one of those scenes, but I think that the curving trees, the downward arc of branches on the left, the foreground stream, and perhaps a sense of depth creating by further trees in brighter light might make this work.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Forest And Meadow, Evening Haze

August 12, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Evening haze settles on the Sierra Nevada above forest and meadow near Lee Vining Creek.

Atmospheric haze and I have a special relationship. ;-) While I love crystal clear alpine air, I’m far more fond of “interesting” atmospheric conditions that involve haze that may partially obscure certain details, accentuate distance contrasts between close and far objects, take on interesting colorations, and even glow when lit from behind. During this early August visit to the Sierra on both sides of Tioga Pass, I encountered some significant haze from a serious wildfire in the Mammoth Lakes area. One one hand, this complicated (or rendered nearly impossible!) certain types of “grand landscape” photographs since the constant brown, smoggy haze isn’t quite what we typically are looking for. However, to me this most certainly does not mean that photography and even landscape photography cannot be done. Not only can it be done, but these conditions can create possibilities that are difficult or impossible to find in more typical conditions. (However, in reality, wildfire smoke is “typical” in the Sierra and many other places during certain times of the year.)

There are a number of ways to use smoke and haze in photographs. In this case I found primary foreground subjects that were close enough that they were not obscured. The haze, however, quickly muted the contrast and color of parts of the scene that were even a short distance away on the other side of the valley. The dark, backlit forms of the near trees stand out against this muted background rather than disappearing into the complex patterns and textures of the more distant forest. The backlight had a few other beneficial effects. It intensifies the colors of the low plants growing beneath and between the trees. It creates a sort of highlighting effect on near and far trees, giving a bit more relief to their textures. And it adds a bit of a glow to that smoke and haze, to the point the further alpine slopes in the upper left show only the barest details.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Beach and Bluffs, Evening

August 5, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light and fog along the Pacific coast north of Santa Cruz, California

On day two of my “return to California photography” we drove across the coastal mountains to the Pacific Coast Highway north of Santa Cruz, California looking for some combination of evening golden hour (or even blue hour, but that’s a different photograph) light, incoming coastal fog, beach, bluffs, and ocean. This area is, of course, pretty familiar to me at this point, so we hit a few of my favorites: a small beach on a side road where wind surfers congregate, a place where a creek comes down to the ocean from the coastal hills, a particular bluff where I know that gulls and pelicans will often fly past very close, another beach where the pelicans often stop to rest, and more.

This beach is at one of the low spots along this highway, which often alternates between climbing to the tops of the bluffs and descending to beaches at major river and creek valleys. On previous visits I have caught a glimpse of this particular angle of view, which only appears momentarily along a section of the road with no real turnouts. I have stopped before, admired the line of bluffs extending north along the coast, but mostly not managed to make a photograph that I like. So as we passed this spot again I looked again… and liked what I saw – soft, warm golden hour light gently lighting the atmosphere thick with moisture from the incoming fog and nicely shaped waves running up on the beach as those bluffs faded into the distant mist.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: creek

Aspen Leaves on Snow

Redwood Creek

Forest And Meadow, Evening Haze

Beach and Bluffs, Evening

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