Tag Archives: dusk

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Cedar Breaks, Dusk Light

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Cedar Breaks, Dusk Light - Post-sunset dusk light on the strata and towers of Cedar Breaks, Utah
Post-sunset dusk light on the strata and towers of Cedar Breaks, Utah

Cedar Breaks, Dusk Light. Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah. October 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Post-sunset dusk light on the strata and towers of Cedar Breaks, Utah

This view of the red rock formations at Cedar Breaks National Monument is from a different portion of the area than shown in the photograph I posted previously, and was made on a different day. Earlier I had photographed aspen color far below in an area of the Dixie National Forest, and when I finished there it seemed like there might be just enough time to swing by this overlook during the very last light of the day. One thing led to another – primarily photographic distractions, if I recall correctly – and when we arrived it was literally the last sunlight, and it was going fast.

By the time I got my gear together and walked out to the edge of the drop-off, the direct sun was pretty much gone, as a consequence of the late hour and of the clouds that were in the west. But sometimes the most beautiful light comes after the sun drops below the horizon, when features are lit by the soft yet colorful western sky and shadows are filled in by this more diffused light. Fortunately it wasn’t too windy – unlike the previous day when the winds were howling – so I was able to continue shooting into this evening light a bit before packing up and heading back to Brian Head.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Sunset, Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks

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Sunset, Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks - Sunset light at Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks National Monument
Sunset light at Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks National Monument

Sunset, Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks. Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah. October 4, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light at Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks National Monument.

This was my first visit to Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah. On my previous trip though Utah we had driven past the roads leading to Cedar Breaks and – doing what one does while driving these days! – we looked it up on the iPhone, and it sounded quite interesting. The descriptions suggested a high elevation bowl with Bryce Canyon-like features that would be open to the west and sunset light. With this in mind, we decided to end our cross-Nevada drive with an overnight at Brian Head, the seasonally dormant ski area where rooms were both relatively inexpensive and quite nice! After checking in we drove on up the road to the National Monument.

The terrain is very interesting and very “not California” to this Sierra Nevada guy. On one side of the ridge is a gently rolling high terrain of alternative forest and meadows, just the sort of place to find lots of deer in the evening and an altogether quiet and peaceful sort of place. On the other side of the ridge, however, things are quite different. The mountain simply drops away to the west, with brightly colored and complex fluted canyons of red rock and soil. Far below and in the distance we could see large groves of aspen trees. A strong wind was blowing up the west-side canyons, but I managed to stabilize things enough to make a few photographs of this spectacular terrain in near-dusk light.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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

Half Dome, Dusk

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Half Dome, Dusk - Half Dome and lone tree at dusk, from Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.
Half Dome and lone tree at dusk, from Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.

Half Dome, Dusk. Yosemite National Park, California. September 16, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Half Dome and lone tree at dusk, from Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.

Last week I was making the long drive back over the Tioga Pass Road from the “east side” following a short pack trip up into McGee Canyon. After catching an early dinner in Mammoth, I headed north and then up over the pass, crossing into Yosemite about an hour before sunset. I figured that this would give me one more chance to do a quick bit of photography before calling it quits and focusing on the drive back to the Bay Area. Since I had spent some time earlier in the week shooting in the Dana Fork meadows and in Tuolumne Meadows itself, I decided to continue on and just see where I might end up a half hour or so before sunset.

It turns out that the “where” ended up being Olmsted Point – not exactly an original place to shoot, but what the heck! In the back of my mind, of course, was the possibility of shooting the classic “back side” view of Half Dome if the evening light proved interesting enough. So one of the first things I did was scope out the precise spot where I wanted to shoot that subject a bit later. Then I turned my attention elsewhere. It turns out that there are quite a few other interesting things to photograph here: the trees across the road on the large glaciated dome, the trees below the parking area, sparse trees growing along ridge tops all around, side light from the setting sun, and much more. So while waiting to see how that Half Dome thing might develop, I shot a bunch of other subjects, all the while watching the evolving light down towards The Valley. At first it didn’t seem all that interesting. The light was a bit flat, perhaps due to cloud cover to the west, and the potentially interesting overhead clouds had a bit of a strange color cast. However, I suspected that after the sun set that there might be some interesting glow on the face from the west, and that the clouds still might pick up some interesting color. And, in fact, this photograph was made when the sun was no longer shining directly on Half Dome – instead it was illuminated to that “after glow” of the sunset as the very last sun began to color the streaming clouds beyond.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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: Abstract, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Textures

Cloud Forms #3 – September 16, 2012

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Cloud Forms #3 - September 16, 2012 - Evening sky above Olmsted Point in the Yosemite Sierra.
Evening sky above Olmsted Point in the Yosemite Sierra.

Cloud Forms #3 – September 16, 2012. Yosemite National Park, California. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening sky above Olmsted Point in the Yosemite Sierra.

On my return from a mid-September eastern Sierra backpack trip, I again passed through Yosemite National Park on the Tioga Pass Road. By a bit of luck combined with some planning, I managed to time of my passage so that I could be there during the last hour or so of the day, figuring I might try to grab a few last opportunistic photographs before driving back to the Bay Area after dark. With that long, dark drive ahead of me, I decided to aim for a stopping point a bit further west along the route, and I stopped about a half hour before sunset at Olmsted Point.

Although I have a number of photographs of the iconic image of the “backside” of Half Dome from this location, the lighting here can be interesting enough that I’ll stop and try “one more time” if I happen to be there. As is often the case, the lighting did not initially appear too promising. The typical autumn wildfire haze was in the air, lending a bit of a yellow/brown color to the hazy lower atmosphere, and the higher clouds seems thin. But if there is one thing that I (and just about any other landscape photographer!) have learned by now, it is that the last minutes of daylight {and the first moments after the sun sets} can be full of surprises. I began with the practical step of scoping out a composition of the iconic dome, but then I turned my attention to lots of other subjects that surround Olmsted Point: the sparse trees ascending the granite slabs across the roadway, higher ridges across Tenaya Canyon and in the opposite direction, the Sierra crest around Mount Conness, and the sky. For a brief moment after the sunlight had left Olmsted Point, the final rays passed through atmosphere near the western horizon and lit up the patterned layers of clouds and drifting wildfire smoke.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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.