Tag Archives: eastern

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Basin Mountain, Afternoon Light and Haze

December 6, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Basin Mountain and the Sierra Nevada crest rise above Round Valley on a hazy afternoon.

There is a certain kind of afternoon light in the eastern Sierra that is hard to photograph – looking up at the range from Owens Valley into the afternoon sun the haze can be bluish and decrease detail and the light can be very bright. But it is a part of the experience of the “east side” that we all know, I think. I can’t say that I’ve tried to photograph it very often, but I stopped just off of highway 395 in the Round Valley area on this early October afternoon when I saw the rugged foothills rising above the sagebrush towards the Buttermilks and Basin Mountain and the Sierra crest around Mount Humphreys beyond.

For me, this is one sort of classic eastern Sierra view. Imagine a very warm or even hot afternoon. You are driving through high desert sagebrush country – which often surprises people who are headed to the Sierra and are thinking about high mountains and cool temperatures. The mountains to the west rise precipitously from the floor of Owens Valley, with peaks that can be nearly 10,000 feet higher than the lowlands in some places. You see snow on the peaks and sometimes on the slopes of the mountains. You know that there are places up there where you can park a car and walk out in cool mountain air and head up a trail through meadows and forests and cross a ridge into the alpine world – but the terrain gives little hint of this from below. The light gleaming on snow fields and rock projected into the sky reminds you of this other world high above.

This photograph is 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

Fall Leaves, Lundy Canyon

December 5, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Leaves transition from summer to fall colors in a deeply shaded area of forest in Lundy Canyon.

Since it was the second week of October, and the time at which I’ve seen Lundy Canyon aspens change color in the past, I headed up into the canyon on the last day of this visit to the eastern Sierra to look for aspen color. As I drove up the canyon from highway 395 I could see some brilliant color far above on the ridges above the canyon, but I wasn’t seeing much down in the bottom of the canyou. I continued up the canyon past Lundy Lake and the resort – closed up for the season – and then continued on the one-lane dirt road that goes on up to the trailhead, passing some flooded flats along the way. There is often color in these areas and then again in the grove of aspens near the trailhead… but not this time.

(Looking back on this “aspen season” from an early-December perspective, it was a bit of a strange one. It seemed to begin early at the higher elevations and there were stunningly colorful trees up high during the first week of October. However, storms soon came in and took down many leaves – and then there was a “dead zone” period of nearly two weeks before the color resumed at lower elevations. This visit to Lundy Canyon took place near the start of this slow period.)

After figuring out that the color I had coming looking for was not to be found, I started back down the canyon. I stopped briefly by the ponds but the light was not quite what I was looking for – it was still a bit too early in the afternoon and the light was harsh and coming from the “wrong” direction for my purposes. However, elsewhere in the canyon I decided that I had to photograph something before leaving the canyon for a planned evening shoot nearby, so I simply pulled out on a short dirt side road where I had earlier seen some tree trunks leaning against rocks. It turned out that I couldn’t find a composition there either – sometimes this is just the way it goes! However, I found these leaves nearby next to the path I had taken down to the river. I thought that the contrast between the green and yellow and the very dark forest floor might be interesting, so I put on a long lens (to minimize depth of field and to give myself some working distance) and I made a few exposures.

This photograph is 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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Textures

Aspen Color – Wall of Leaves

November 21, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 5 Comments

A nearly solid wall of brilliant fall aspen leaf color in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

This is going to be the first in a short series of “frame filled with foliage” photographs that I’ll post. Although I think they work best as prints – and fairly large ones at that – I’d like to share these since they are something a bit different that I’ve been working on.

Sometimes I’m just so impressed by the sheer density and complexity of the foliage that I’m tempted to just point that camera at them and click. It might look like that is what is going on here, but I am also trying (remember, “trying!”) to find some sort of pattern and form in these very complex textures. This photograph was made in a small aspen grove that was essentially at the color peak – only a very small number of partly green leaves remained, yet most of the transformed leaves were still on the tree. If you have chased aspen color, you know how difficult it can be to find the leaves at just this point!

This photograph is 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: Sierra Nevada

Aspen-Covered Hillside, Reflection

November 17, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Brilliantly colorful aspens ascend a hillside valley above the reflecting surface of a Sierra Nevada lake.

This absurdly colorful hillside above a small lake is a well-known autumn sight in the eastern Sierra above Bishop, California. If you hit it at just the right time and in just the right light, the colors can be almost hallucinogenic. (I’ve heard it called the “Cheetos forest,” for reasons that are probably pretty obvious.)

I’ve been there plenty of times, but have never quite hit the right combination of conditions to get a good shot of the color. I came very close a few years ago, arriving in the pre-dawn hours when there was just enough light to make out the river of color snaking up the small valley above the aspen forest near the lakeshore – but before the sun came up a snow squall swept through. I cowered in my car for half hour to escape the wind, and when I was able to get out and start shooting…. half the leaves that had been there 30 minutes earlier were gone!

The good fortune this time was not just that I was there when the color was strong, but it was also a matter of light and weather conditions. The day started out overcast, and things were looking a bit dull. But soon the clouds began to break up to the east (to the right in the photo) and bright but soft light began to filter though and between the clouds as if someone had set up a giant light panel to the east. Instead of photographing the entire hillside, I decided to photograph the horizontal layers rising from the reflections in the surface of the water, through the shoreline grasses and bushes, past the yellow/orange/gold aspens, and up the slope to the brilliant orange colors above.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.