Tag Archives: dawn

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

Sunrise, Ediza Lake, Minarets, and Mounts Ritter and Banner

September 8, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

First sunrise light on the Minarets, Mount Ritter, and Banner Peak above Ediza Lake, Sierra Nevada, California.

I made this photograph during a long and leisurely pack trip into the Minarets area of the Sierra Nevada near Mammoth Lakes. It was leisurely because I accompanied my brother and his family – and the fact that some kids were on the trip contributed to the slower hiking pace… as did the fact that both he and I wanted to make photographs.

This is a popular and accessible area of the Sierra, and also one that is a bit unusual. Typically the highest peaks of the range are found on the actual crest, but here the Sierra crest is further to the east and rather low, being right about where the Mammoth Ski Area is located. Across an intervening valley – a valley that holds Devils Postpile National Monument – loom the high and jagged peaks of the Minarets, a series of impressive spires, and the summits of Mount Ritter and Banner Peak. While in most of the Sierra the areas to the east of the highest peaks descend rapidly to the high desert, here the areas below these peaks remain very high and provide a different view of the eastern faces of the peaks.

The photograph was made very early in the morning along the shoreline of Ediza Lake on a day when clouds were already starting to build even at this early hour. Yes, there was rain later on!

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.

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

Mount Gibbs, Frozen Pond, Morning

July 2, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Dawn light on the snow-capped summit of Mount Gibbs above a frozen pond, Yosemite National Park.

This small pond is perhaps familiar to visitors to Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass, though more likely with a different appearance. Here, early on a cold morning on the day after Tioga Pass opened for the season, the pond is still mostly frozen and it is surrounded by deep snow banks. The summit of Mount Gibbs is just touched by the first morning light as it passes through clouds over the Sierra crest.

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

Melting Ice and Sunrise Reflection, Tioga Lake

June 25, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn light on the peaks of Kuna Crest is reflected in a meltwater channel in the frozen surface of Tioga Lake at Tioga Pass.

On the weekend that Tioga Pass opened this year, I spent the “opening day” photographing along highway 120 in the park. That night I stayed in Aspen Camp in Lee Vining Canyon, a standby for me at almost all times of year when I photograph in the area and Tuolumne Meadows campground is not open. (That NPS campground typically opens a few weeks after the pass opens and then closes in late September.) The next morning I was up fairly early, planning to photograph more or less in the Tenaya Lake area a bit after sunrise. I drove up toward the pass and soon came to Tioga Lake, which lies next to the road just below the pass.

I had noticed the striking veined patterns formed by the melting ice the previous day but had not photographed them. When I saw them in the morning I spontaneously decided to stop and see what I could do with the subject, especially since it looked like the ice was starting to pick up a bit of color from the pre-dawn light. I quickly got out and set up and found a way to line up the melted channel in the icy surface with the peaks of the distant Kuna Crest inside the park. As the light began to strike this ridge its color reflected on the frozen lake and I made a few photographs before moving on.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Dunes, Mesquite Flat, Sunrise

April 21, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Early morning light striking minor dunes on Mesquite Flat with Cottonwood Mountains wash and the Last Chance Range in the distance, Death Valley National Park.

These dunes are not too far from the main Mesquite Dunes near Stovepipe Wells – they are a bit further east from the better known tallest section of the dunes. The areas of lower dunes provide some very interesting shapes and textures on a smaller scale in some ways that those of the larger dunes. I photographed these with a long lens, shooting from a rise, at a point in time very shortly after the first morning light had struck the sand. The background hills, part of a very large alluvial fan at the base of the Cottonwood Mountains, were in the shadow of a cloud.

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