Tag Archives: crest

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

Tuolumne Meadows, Evening

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Tuolumne Meadows, Evening

Tuolumne Meadows, Evening. Yosemite National Park, California. July 10, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An evening with developing lenticular clouds above Mounts Dana and Gibbs, Lembert Dome, and Tuolumne Meadows – Yosemite National Park, California.

A friend or two who know about my “musical life” may appreciate the use of the term crescendo to describe the sequence of five photographs that begins with this one. I don’t want to give the story away in advance here, so you’ll need to check back over the next few days to see where this leads.

This photograph was made along the bank of the Tuolumne River not far from where the John Muir Trail crosses a bridge to the old Parson’s Lodge. When I made this photograph the sun was just about to drop behind the low ridges behind me at the west end of the Meadows, so here the forest and river are picking up the very last direct sun of the day.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Twilight, Tuolumne River and Tuolumne Meadows, Sierra Crest

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Twilight, Tuolumne River and Tuolumne Meadows, Sierra Crest
Light from lenticular cloud-filled twilight sky illuminates Tuolumne Meadows and the Tuolumne River with Lembert Dome, Mount Dana, and Mount Gibbs beyond, Yosemite National Park, California

Twilight, Tuolumne River and Tuolumne Meadows, Sierra Crest. Yosemite National Park, California. July 10, 2009. © Copyright G DanMitchell – all rights reserved.

Light from lenticular cloud-filled twilight sky illuminates Tuolumne Meadows and the Tuolumne River with Lembert Dome, Mount Dana, and Mount Gibbs beyond, Yosemite National Park, California.

Yes, one more in the series – perhaps the final one, but we’ll see. I suppose it could be titled, “It ain’t over until it’s over.”

After the astonishing colors of the brightest moments of the sunset fade, one might think that the show is over – but often it isn’t quite done. I remember the time I first learned the value of sticking around until it is too dark to photograph any more. This “lesson” happened a bit further west in Tuolumne Meadows some years ago. I was photographing in the evening, shooting across a transitory early-season lake. Another nearby photographer was photographing the same beautiful evening, and he pointed out that some of his favorite photographs actually came after the intense light of sunset and during the time when the light almost begins to feel more like night than day.

Two wonderful things can happen at this hour. First, you may witness unexpected “color surprises” even after the show seems to be over. (I learned this a second time a few years later after packing up at the summit of Lembert Dome and heading down – only to be surprised by a wonderful and completely unexpected suffusion of beautiful light, and having to quickly unpack to squeeze off a couple of exposures.) Second, as astonishing as the earlier brilliant colors are, this is the time for some wonderfully deep and subtle colors that you just won’t see at any other time of day.

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: Sierra Nevada

Hitchcock Lakes

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High Lakes, Trail Crest
Terrain to the west of Whitney Trail Crest

Hitchcock Lakes from the Mt. Whitney Trail. Sequoia National Park, California. August 11, 2008. © Copyright 2008 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hitchcock Lakes seen from the Mt. Whitney Trail.

I climbed Mount Whitney – again – on August 11, 2008 after crossing the Sierra Nevada from west to east on Sequoia National Park’s High Sierra Trail. I’ve been to the summit a couple times in the past. Last year I swore I would not climb this peak again, mainly because there are so many other beautiful things to see in the Sierra and I didn’t feel a strong need to do this again. But my friends proposed a trip that concluded with the Whitney ascent, and I couldn’t say no.

A traditional starting point for ascents from the west is Guitar Lake, a small – and often somewhat crowded – little lake in a truly alpine setting just above timberline. From here the trail ascends the valley containing these lakes, leading to the junction with the trail from the east side just before reaching the ridge, and then a lateral trail traverses out to the summit of Whitney.

It won’t surprise anyone if I say that there are some wonderful panoramas to be seen from almost any point on this climb. One of my favorite is this view back across the valley from which the trail ascended and towards high elevation Hitchcock Lakes and the ridge between them and the Crabtree Basin beyond.

(Oddly, I often find the summit view to be photographically uninspiring, and I usually end up just making some “record” photos there and a perfunctory pano or two.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Leaving Lembert Dome, Dusk

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Leaving Lembert Dome, Dusk

Leaving Lembert Dome, Dusk. Yosemite National Park, California. July 30, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hiker leaving the summit of Lembert Dome at dusk. Tuolumne Meadows, with the Sierra crest in the background. Yosemite National Park, California.

I shot this last summer on an evening when I had just finished photographing the Sierra sunset from the top of Lembert Dome in the Tuolumne Meadows area. The “good light” had seemingly ended and I had packed up my camera, lenses, and tripod and was heading down from the peak when there was a wonderful bit of post-sunset warm, soft light… just at the moment when this lone hiker crossed this section of the granite come below me. Not having time to set up my tripod and other gear properly, I simply grabbed three frames at very low shutter speeds, and I was very pleased when I found that one of them actually turned out beautifully. In this case, I was shooting hand held at such low shutter speeds that I had to rely on the image-stabilization feature of the lens I had on my camera at that moment.

(Update#2: Since I posted this color version I was contacted about licensing the use of  a black and white version of the photograph in a print journal. There are, I think, a few lessons in this shot and this experience.

  • First, not all landscape photography is done at a sedate and leisurely pace, pondering for many minutes the intricacies of composition and so forth. Sometimes things happen so quickly that you must depend upon instincts and react quickly to a situation that only lasts a moment. In this case I could not possibly have anticipated the light or the appearance of the lone hiker – when I saw this conjunction of subjects I had no time to set up a tripod.
  • Second, sometimes traditional landscape approaches (tripod, small aperture, etc.) won’t get the shot and the adaptability of your gear may save the day… or evening. I pulled out my camera and handheld the shot using the lens that was already on the camera with image stabilization and a rather low shutter speed.
  • Third, it probably isn’t news to any one, but sometimes an image that you conceive as color may turn out to work well in black and white, and vice versa. Be flexible.

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