Tag Archives: edge

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

Edge of the Light – Yosemite Valley

1 Comment
Edge of the Light - Yosemite Valley

Edge of the Light – Yosemite Valley. Yosemite National Park, California. October 31, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon autumn light falls across a grove of trees on the Merced River with the cliffs of Yosemite Fall beyond.

On the weekend of October 31 and November 1 I made my annual “Yosemite Valley Fall Color” trip to The Valley – to photograph autumn subjects including the maple, dogwood, oak, and cottonwood trees. While some say that these trees may not provide the same kind of color found in New England, they still draw me back to the Valley every autumn.

This photograph was made in one of the busiest and most popular tourist viewpoints in the Valley, in Leidig Meadow near the chapel. On a busy high season day, perhaps hundred of people will briefly park their cars here, get out, point their cameras up, and make (another) photograph of Yosemite Falls. In some ways this sounds like just about that last place that I would want to photograph, but I’ve come to like the late afternoon light in this meadow, especially in the autumn as the grasses turn brown, the cottonwood trees along the Merced start to lose their leaves, and the low angle of the sun creates interesting back-lighting and shadows.

I’d like to say that I planned to capture exactly this lighting, with the edge of the sun/shadow line falling just across this band of trees and picking up the small tree to the left of the larger group, but that would be a bit of an exaggeration. In truth, I did plan to shoot the trees against the shadowed background, but I was thinking more about having the background cliffs in shadow than I was about the trees right behind the cottonwoods. So I was shooting something else when I happened to look up and see that these trees were just barely catching the last light and that the small tree on the left was set off from the others – so I quickly set up this composition and managed to make a few exposures before the light quickly faded from the trees.

Like so many lighting effects in landscape photography this was a fleeting moment. Far from being a sedate and relaxed process, capturing “edge” light like this is often a matter of being in the right place, getting exactly the right moment, and often requires not only good fortune but close attention to ones surroundings and very quick work!

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Gallery | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

keywords: yosemite, national, park, valley, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, autumn, fall, season, scenic, travel, nature, landscape, california, tree, grove, forest, cottonwood, color, trunk, leaves, grass, leidig, meadow, sentinel, late, afternoon, shadow, edge, light, water, upper, cliff, face, brown, yellow, golden, stock

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

Edge of the Shadow, Ten Lakes Basin

Leave a comment
Edge of the Shadow, Ten Lakes Basin

Edge of the Shadow, Ten Lakes Basin. Yosemite National Park, California. August 25, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The shadow from tall cliffs to the west of Ten Lakes Basin moves across a small meadow near the base of the cliffs, Yosemite National Park, California.

Although I have backpacked in the Sierra and in Yosemite for many decades and have visited many parts of the back-country so often that I know individual rocks and trees (!), I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I had not been into the Ten Lakes Basin until my trip in late August. I’ve looked up at the valley through which the trail to the Basin climbs as I’ve driven past on Tioga Pass Road but I’ve always thought of this location as not high enough for me since I prefer the highest sub-alpine terrain.

This little clearing in the forest is located between what some call “lake three and lake four,” the two lakes up the creek from the largest lake in the center of the Basin, which is the one where most people seem to camp. (I camped at “lake three” and had it entirely to myself for two nights.) Because the ridge to the west of the Basin is so high and steep and close to these lakes, the shadow from the ridge begins to block the light quite early in the day.

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

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gdanmitchell

keywords: edge, shadow, moves, afternoon, light, tall, cliff, forest, tree, grass, brush, flora, boulder, rock, talus, scree, ten, lakes, basin, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, hike, backpack, camp, nature, landscape, scenic, travel, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, sub, alpine, branch, trunk, stock

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

Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest

2 Comments
Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest

Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest. Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park, California. July 11, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lodgepole pines stand at the edge of the forest next to Tioga Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California.

I have photographed these trees before. They are found at the edge of the meadow along the left side of the road after you leave the forest near the Mono Trail parking lot and enter the meadow at Tioga Pass and approach the entrance station. Several things intrigue me about the trees in this area: they mark the edge of dense forest into which it is difficult to see, few people stop to look at them, they border the meadows, and they sometimes are illuminated late in the day by light reflecting from Mount Dana’s lower slopes to the east.

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

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gdanmitchell

keywords: pine, lodgepole, tamarack, tree, forest, grove, trunk, branch, needle, meadow, tioga, alpine, thick, dense, grass, flora, pass, road, yosemite, national park, california, usa, sierra, nevada, range, mountains, summit, crest, landscape, nature, travel, scenic, stock, green, edge, dark

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Iceberg Lake, Minarets

Leave a comment
Iceberg Lake, Minarets
Iceberg Lake, Minarets

Iceberg Lake, Minarets. Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. July 27, 2007. © Copyright 2007  G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Submerged boulders along the rocky alpine shoreline of Iceberg Lake in front of the spires of the Minarets as afternoon thunderclouds begin to build.

This is an older photograph that I’ve been thinking of working on and posting for some time. Two summers ago in late July I was on a backpack trip into Ediza Lake and then on to Garnett and Thousand Island. We spent a few nights a beautiful Lake Ediza and on one of the layover mornings I decided to wander on up to Iceberg Lake. Iceberg Lake (along with Cecile Lake) is located along a high and almost cross-country route between Ediza and Minarets Lakes, and it passes very close beneath the east side of the imposing ridge of the Minarets. I made it as far as Iceberg when I noticed that that the thunderclouds were already building quickly at noon – so I stopped for a few photographs before high-tailing it back down to camp. (I almost made it back before the rain and hail started! :-)

My history with this lake goes back to some earlier trips as well. Many years ago I decided to do a sol0 backpack trip beneath the Minarets, comprising a loop up to Minaret Lake, then up into the rough country above the lake, across it, and down past Iceberg Lake to Ediza Lake. (I have been to the latter lake many times!) It was, as I recall, early in a season that was a reasonably snowy one. When I picked up my permit the range tried to warn me of the dangers of crossing while there was still a lot of snow in a few spots, but being younger than I am now and foolish in very different ways, I decided to ignore him. The climb above Minaret Lake went well, once I found a route through rocks that went up to the right. I had a small accident that left some scars that I still bear—I stepped into a hole between rocks and managed to bang up one leg a bit. I continued on and eventually found myself at the top of the saddle at the upper left corner of this photograph, looking down at a very steep slope that was covered with snow that dropped right into the lake. I was without any of the aids to mountain travelers that might have come in handy here such as trekking poles (didn’t use them back in those days), an ice ax, or crampons. I found a small piece of wood that I might use for an emergency self arrest—or so I imagined— and stepped gingerly down this slope.

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.