Tag Archives: dome

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

The Valley, Morning Sun And Clouds

Leave a comment
The Valley, Morning Sun And Clouds
Clouds from a passing weather front break up over Yosemite Valley as sun rises above Sentinel Dome

The Valley, Morning Sun And Clouds. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds from a passing weather front break up over Yosemite Valley as sun rises above Sentinel Dome

I confess that I’m often tempted to title photographs of this subject, “Yet Another Clearing Storm.” The subject is, to say the least, done a lot! The location is accessible, the view is tremendous (even if you’ve seen it a hundred times), storms clear in dramatic fashion. Sometimes I just have to stop and photograph it. Again. This does, however, bring to mind the famous comment that one photographer offered when asked by a neophyte if he had any advice about photographing from Tunnel View: “Don’t,” he replied. Yet we do. It can be a sort of guilty pleasure, and on a number of beautiful winter evenings I’ve run into friends there.

The light on this morning was something of a surprise — given what I had seen in the first predawn light I expected gray overcast. But as I came down toward the Valley I began to see hopeful signs — a bit of a glow from the east that suggested breaks beyond the edge of the cloud shield. I arrived here just before the clouds began to open up. I almost didn’t photograph — I first walked over without my equipment thinking it might be a quick stop before moving on. But it soon began to look more and more like the light might become even more interesting, so I raced back to my car and grabbed my camera, lenses, and tripod. Soon the morning sun rose over Sentinel Dome, intermittently breaking through the clouds and sending beams of soft light across and into the Valley.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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

Sentinel Dome, Sunrise And Clouds

2 Comments
Sentinel Dome, Sunrise And Clouds
Rays of morning sun above Sentinel Dome cross a ridge and illuminate forest and clouds

Sentinel Dome, Sunrise And Clouds. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rays of morning sun above Sentinel Dome cross a ridge and illuminate forest and clouds

You can spend quite a few photography days without finding special light, and then unexpectedly run headfirst into something remarkable. That was the story on this late April visit to Yosemite Valley to photograph the transition from winter to spring. (I had photographed in cold and snow there a week prior, but now the snow was gone and the weather was warming.) The first two days were fine — typical spring days in the Valley — but it was challenging to find special light. Then on my final morning luck was with me. When I started for the Valley well before sunrise I could see that the sky was clouded over, and it promised to be a gray morning. But as I drove I started to see some light sneaking in under the clouds, and I guessed that the cover might be breaking up by the time I got to the Valley.

I arrived at the first good view of the Valley just as the sun was coming up. The Valley was still mostly gray and cloud-shrouded, but the clouds to the east were thinner and breaking up. Before long the clouds thinned even more and the sunlight began to break through. The big view was still too gray for my taste at this point, so I put a long lens on the camera and began to look for small sections of the scene with dramatic light. Beyond Bridal Veil Fall the sun had just risen above the top of Sentinel Dome, and its light was streaming down across ridges and through trees.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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

Two Trees and Granite

1 Comment
Two Trees and Granite
Two old trees grow at the base of a granite dome

Two Trees and Granite. Yosemite National Park, California. July 27, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two old trees grow at the base of a granite dome

This is a slightly different treatment of the same subject I posted a few days ago. These trees grow on the broken talus at the base of this large expanse of glaciated granite. I’m astonished that they have managed to become so massive, given the rather difficult terrain upon which they grow.

These trees are familiar friends at this point. I’ve photographed them for quite a few years, usually with a bit of a wider perspective that includes more of their surroundings, from the dome itself to some large foreground trees that are out of the frame in this photograph. This time I decided to eliminate much of that surrounding material and let the trees appear more isolated from the competing subjects.

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.

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

Two Trees, Granite, and Forest

Leave a comment
Two Trees, Granite, and Forest
Two trees stand at the base of a granite dome with forest ascending further hills

Two Trees, Granite, and Forest. Yosemite National Park, California. July 27, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two trees stand at the base of a granite dome with forest ascending further hills

When I first photographed this pair of trees some time ago, I thought I had discovered something special. From my perspective that was true — my personal discovery was special. But it wasn’t too long afterwards that I “discovered” a beautiful print of these same trees by photographer and friend Charles Cramer, at which point I recognized that perhaps my photograph was just a bit less unique than I imagined! Yet, something about these trees and their surroundings sticks in my mind, and from time to time I stop and photograph them again.

That was the case on this late-July morning, when I passed by on my way to some other place. I noticed that the morning light seemed just about perfect, and that the slight haze produced a bit of atmospheric recession to add depth to the subject. So, once again, I stopped and made a few photographs. In this one I decided to include just a bit of the foreground trees, one on either side, so that I could also include a bit more of the forest zigzagging up the side of the more distant slopes in the morning light.

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.