Tag Archives: dormant

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

Winter Oak, Cliff

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Winter Oak, Cliff
A dormant winter oak in back-light, against the backdrop of granite Yosemite cliff

Winter Oak, Cliff. Yosemite Valley, California. February 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dormant winter oak in back-light, against the backdrop of granite Yosemite cliff

Near the end of February I spent a few days in and around Yosemite Valley. I scheduled my visit to coincide with the opening reception of the 2017 Yosemite Renaissance exhibit at the Yosemite Visitor Center Museum Gallery. The annual show features work by artists focusing on Yosemite and the Sierra, including almost every medium imaginable — and one of my photographs was in the show this year.

Almost any visit to Yosemite Valley calls for photography, so I arranged my schedule to be there for three days. While I hiked a lot on some days, on this day I hopped in my vehicle and headed down the Valley to visit various areas including El Capitan Meadow with its beautiful winter-bare trees and the backdrop of huge cliffs. The face of Sentinel Rocks, almost always in shade at this time of year, rises behind this single back-lit dormant oak tree.

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

Dormant Oaks

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Dormant Oaks
Winter-dormant oak trees in Yosemite Valley

Dormant Oaks. Yosemite Valley, California. February 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter-dormant oak trees in Yosemite Valley

Many things characterize Yosemite Valley. To a first-time visitor the cliffs, famous prominent peaks, and waterfalls are the main attraction — and the most common subjects of photographs. Spend a bit more time there and your awareness of other things increases: the river and its many tributaries, the forests and meadows, the boulder piles along the edges of the Valley. If your visits encompass more than one season your conception of the place expands to include not only the sunny summers but also the colorful autumn, the cold and occasional snow of winter, and the water-everywhere season of spring.

For me the oak trees are a big part of what makes the Valley the Valley, from their brilliant new growth in late spring, through autumn’s color change, to their bare and skeletal winter forms. I was photographing something else in one of the Valley’s meadows early on this morning, at a time when the first light was just beginning to touch the upper rim. I took a short break from my subject and just looked around, spotting this dense and detailed by of oak branch texture, form, and color nearby.

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

Meadow Grass and Frost

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Meadow Grass and Frost
Meadow Grass and Frost

Meadow Grass and Frost. Yosemite Valley, California. March 1, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning frost on dormant winter grasses in a Yosemite Valley meadow

On a late-winter morning like this one there could be snow in Yosemite Valley, and even without new snow there is likely to be a bit of it lying around in shady areas. But not this winter. This has been the fourth of a series of very dry years in California, and this year was especially unkind to the Sierra. By the end of the season the snow pack looks to be barely 10% of what it would be in a typical year, and the situation is even more dire since this is only the latest in a string of such years. So it was not surprise to find this meadow snow free, with only a bit of frost suggesting the season.

We arose early on this morning and headed out close to sunrise looking for a meadow with the common winter low fog. We finally found a bit of it in this meadow, though it was dissipating quickly. Before it went away we headed out into the meadow to see what photographic possibilities we could find. I first focused on the frost itself and on some of the winter-dormant brush and bushes around the meadow’s edge. Then I moved back into the main part of the meadow, where these bent over and dried grasses reminded me of the patterns I might find in flowing water.

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

Winter Meadow, Forest

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Winter Meadow, Forest
Winter Meadow, Forest

Winter Meadow, Forest. Yosemite National Park, California. March 2, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Forest and snow-topped cliffs above a winter meadow, Yosemite Valley

During this distressingly dry season in California, our three-day visit to Yosemite Valley in early March was a welcome relief. It was raining when we arrived, and it remained cloudy and wet for the entire period, with breaks in the rain but not the clouds. We were there for the opening of the Yosemite Renaissance XXIX exhibit, which continues in the Visitor Center Gallery through early March. (Stop in and take a look if you make it to the Valley. This is a wonderful annual juried show of art related to Yosemite and the Sierra. And, yes, one of my prints is there.)

The scene here is a popular and well-known Cook’s Meadow. As is normal in the winter, the grasses that are so green in spring and early summer have gone dormant, as have most of the other plants in the meadow itself. This is such a familiar scene—though always a beautiful one—that I most often would not stop to photograph. However, among the brown tones the one spots of bright red among the foreground brush caught my attention, and the light had a warm and glowing quality that was special. The light falling on the forest was very soft, filtered though thin clouds above and to the east, and snow from the passing storm covered the upper reaches of the cliff walls around the Valley.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.