Tag Archives: crest

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

First Light, North Peak

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First Light, North Peak
“First Light, North Peak” — First morning light of the summit of North Peak on the Sierra Crest, feflected in a subalpine pond.

By now the story of this pack trip is perhaps becoming familiar… but there are still more photos! I went on a mid-July backpacking trip into the Eastern Sierra with a group of longtime backcountry friends… plus a few new friends. We camped at a lake near this spot for a couple of nights before moving on. The photograph includes a peak that was visible from my campsite, and the camera position is perhaps a one minute walk away.

Many years ago I would not have taken a trip like this one. Back then I wanted to cover the miles! But this time we only hiked two (!) miles the first day, and we stayed at our first camping location for two nights. These days, when wilderness photography is usually the main goal of these trips, being in one place for several mornings and evenings gives me time to thoroughly explore the photographic opportunities.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Sierra Crest Tarn

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Sierra Crest Tarn
“Sierra Crest Tarn” — Clouds over Mammoth Peak and a Tioga Pass tarn.

Sometimes when I visit the Sierra I cover surprising distances to get from location to location. But I devoted the entirety of my mid-September visit to the Yosemite high country to locations between Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass. I made this photograph from as far east as I went, right at the pass, where small tarns dot a landscape of meadows and small trees.

This can be a green and even lush place early in the season, but by the end of summer the meadows dry out and turn “California golden.” I made the photographer relatively early in the morning, when clouds were just beginning to build above Mammoth Peak and the Kuna Crest.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Trees, Pond, and Morning Mist

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Trees, Pond, and Morning Mist
“Trees, Pond, and Morning Mist” — Late-Summer morning mist rises from a subalpine pond surrounded by dense forest.

I have driven past this lake for years — decades actually — but I’ve only stopped a few times and hardly ever tried to photograph it. Until this year. Earlier this summer I was there on a morning after rain, and the little basin was full of luminous fog. On this mid-September visit the weather was wet, foo, and I had to stop and photograph when I saw more fog.

There is a sort of classic view of this feature, and I did make some photographs from that perspective. But then I decided to wander along the side of the pond, reaching its end and then walking back through forest. From that perspective, the view through the trees caught my attention, so I positioned myself behind a few backlit shoreline trees to make this photograph.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Meadow and Mountains

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Meadow and Mountains
“Meadow and Mountains” — Morning haze and wildfire smoke on Mounts Dana and Gibbs above a late-summer Yosemite high country meadow.

In some places the Sierra Nevada crest can present the classic, rugged alpine scene — high, rocky peaks and ridges that almost appear to be inaccessible. But in other places the land rises a bit more gently, and you can look across open meadows and forests towards peaks that look as if you could just walk to their summits. (In fact, you could walk to the summits in this photograph, but you’d be exhausted, as the highest is over 13,000′ tall.

The water in the foreground belongs to the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne River. Early in the season the meadow here can be lushly green — and quite wet — but by the end of summer, like almost all Sierra meadows, it turns golden. On this day the atmosphere was complex — high clouds would lead to thunderstorms later on, and drifting wildfire smoke obscured distant subjects.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.