Tag Archives: dana

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

Cathedral Range, Meadows, Evening

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Cathedral Range, Meadows, Evening
Cathedral range and early evening in the Yosemite High Sierra.

Cathedral Range, Meadows, Evening. Yosemite National Park, California. July 15, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cathedral range and early evening in the Yosemite High Sierra.

For me, this is a quintessential Sierra Nevada scene, and memories such places and sensations go back almost to my first knowledge of the range. One touchstone was many years ago when my father took me up to Tuolumne Meadows (if my hazy memory is accurate) and we passed through such country. I have a very particular memory of stopping at a waterfall alongside the road, where I looked up the stream above that cascade and wondered, without quite understanding what I was asking, what might lie above and beyond my field of vision. Perhaps at about this time I discovered some of my father’s books, including one that was (again, if memory is correct) about a passage along the backcountry spine of the range. The photograph I remember most from that book, a photograph that is still one of my mental models for seeing these mountains, featured a deeply grooved trail heading across a high country meadow toward a distant ridge. Some things never change!

This spot is one that I know well — and it is also easily accessible. But it could be any of thousands of places where water runs between meadow banks and past forests with rocky peaks in the distance, the sum of which draw me back to these mountains every year. There is still a lot of snow on the ground in this and similar places right now, and the water is running much higher. But in a month or two this brief period of abundant green will come to the high country, and you’ll find me there again.

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, Photographs: Yosemite

Dana Fork, Evening

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Dana Fork, Evening
The Dana Fork of the Tuolumne River curves through subalpine meadows in evening light

Dana Fork, Evening. Yosemite National Park, California. July 15, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Dana Fork of the Tuolumne River curves through subalpine meadows in evening light

Mid-July, at least in a relatively dry year, as was the summer of 2016, can be the time of the most natural loveliness in the High Sierra. Most snow has melted, the creeks and rivers are flowing, the vegetation is green, the days are long, wildflowers are appearing, and the light is beautiful. If it weren’t for mosquitos, the world would be perfect. (This year July will likely look quite different, and I suspect that there will still be patches of snow on the ground and that the water will be much higher.)

Last July I spent a few days in the Tuolumne Meadows area, a place that is comfortable and familiar to me by now. This time I car-camped, staying in the busy Tuolumne Meadows campground, but heading out early and late in the day to find photographic subjects nearby and as far away as Mono Lake. On this evening I found myself along Tioga Pass road late in the day as sunset approached, so I stopped and wandered out into this intimate landscape of the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne, rock-filled meadows, and forest, with the point of Cathedral Peak silhouetted against the sky in the distance.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Summer’s End

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Summer's End
Late summer meadow and forest, Yosemite National Park

Summer’s End. Yosemite National Park, California. September 7, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late summer meadow and forest, Yosemite National Park

I missed much of summer in the Sierra this season since we were traveling. Soon after we came back to California I managed to squeeze in a few “going home” days in the Yosemite high country during the week following the exit of the Labor Day Holiday crowds. Following my midday arrival and camp setup (and a nap to compensate for my early wake up call that morning) I decided that I’d head out a familiar trail toward an alpine lake that I’ve frequently visited in the past. As it turns out I started a bit too late, and when I hit my predetermined halfway time I hadn’t made it the goal — so I just found a rock and sat quietly for a while before turning around.

Every summer, far before autumn actually begins, I see the early signs of the coming seasonal change. I missed the first hints since I wasn’t there in August. (Though I did see a few early leaves change color in Italy at that time.) But on this early September day the signs were all there. The meadows have turned that familiar golden brown color. Red bilberry plants glow in the low angle backlight. Corn lily plants have lost their green lushness and now turn brown and topple over. A few yellow leaves begin to appear on willows, and here and there it is even possible to find a few aspen trees with premature yellow leaves. Less concretely, there is something I’ve never quite been able to define about the light and the atmosphere, though it is plainly obvious to me that it has changed. Summer is ending in the Sierra, and the inevitable arrival of autumn and winter is just around the corner.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Evening Meadow and Forest

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Evening Meadow and Forest
Evening at subalpine meadows near Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park

Evening Meadow and Forest. Yosemite National Park, California. July 14, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening at subalpine meadows near Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park

I began photographing in this meadow area much earlier — in the late afternoon, actually, when direct sunlight still streamed over the tall ridge to the west. I initially passed right through this section on my way to points further to the east in the meadow, where I found more open terrain, expansive views, and a few small lakes and tarns.

The light leaves early here. That western ridge begins to cast a shadow across the meadows well before actual sunset. Even though I was as far from this ridge as possible, eventually the shadows caught up with me and the light was gone, with the exception of the highest peaks where it would linger much longer. So I began my slow walk back across the meadow to my vehicle, enjoying the softer light of this quiet time of the 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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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