Tag Archives: evening

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Ridges, Evening Light

August 24, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

I have not had a lot of luck trying to photograph the Hurricane Ridge area in the past. You’ve probably seen the beautiful and iconic photographs by other photographers – lavish displays of wildflowers, striking alpine ridges holding snow fields and glaciers, spectacular cloud-filled skies. However, on the few occasions when I have tried to shoot there I have contended with wind, fog that held visibility down to mere yards, and poor seasonal timing. Since we were in the Seattle area (for something non-photographic) with a free day, I figured I might try one more time. Initially I had thought of the run up to Artist Point in North Cascades, but the weather forecast there was not at all promising, with rain expected. Initially I thought that there might be similar weather out on the Peninsula, but as we started out I got a call from my brother, who is a Seattle area photographer much more familiar with the patterns of the area, saying “go to the Olympic Peninsula. I’m looking at a web cam and it seems clear!”

In fact, by the time our ferry crossed to the west side of Puget Sound, it was looking quite clear. After some midday, lowland shooting, we figured that we would try Hurricane Ridge at the end of the day. With this in mind, it was a bit after 5:00 when we arrived there. The first look around was not too encouraging – the wildflowers were mostly spent and it was cloudy, though sun was breaking through the clouds from time to time. I decided to give it a try since I know that conditions can change quickly and because it was likely too late to get to any other interesting points in the remaining daylight. Setting up and watching the scene, I noticed that while it was cloudy and even a bit rainy, breaks in the clouds to the west were sending occasional beams of light chasing across the landscape, especially the large forest-covered ridge in the foreground of this photograph.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Grazing Deer, Ragged Peak

August 14, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

A group of deer graze in Tuolumne Meadows near sunset beneath the summit of distant Ragged Peak

Perhaps I’ve simply missed this in the past, but on this early August trip to the Tuolumne Meadows area I saw a herd of deer grazing in the meadow in the evening that was larger than any I have encountered before. I’ve often seen small groups of perhaps a half-dozen or so there, but this group had at least two dozen individuals on the two evenings I was there. Many were bucks with antlers, but there were also some very young and very frisky critters among them, including one who seemed to be the ringleader of periodic high-speed races back and forth across the meadow. While waiting for interesting light for photographing other subjects (and that light is just beginning to appear on the dome behind the meadow) I spent some time with the long lens photographing them.

There are, of course, quite a few ways to photograph wildlife, ranging from what amount to intimate and close-up portraits to photographs that show the animals in their landscape – with the latter verging on “landscape with animals,” a different thing than much wildlife photography. I like doing both, but here I was thinking a lot more about photographing the animals in their world. This affected my approach in a couple of perhaps obvious ways. First, while I could have gotten quite a bit closer with the long lens I was using, I hung back so that I could include more than one deer in the frame, include more of the surrounding landscape, and not intrude to closely on the deer. Second, as soon as I had clicked of a first “insurance shot” of the animals, I stopped and looked at the landscape in order to find things that I could align with the deer. In this case, I was able to move some distance to one side and get a group to line up with the low dome (which, lucky for me, got hit with a bit of soft evening sunlight at the right moment!) and the distant ridge holding Ragged Peak, an area that I know quite well from many pack trips into nearby areas.

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

Forest And Meadow, Evening Haze

August 12, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Evening haze settles on the Sierra Nevada above forest and meadow near Lee Vining Creek.

Atmospheric haze and I have a special relationship. ;-) While I love crystal clear alpine air, I’m far more fond of “interesting” atmospheric conditions that involve haze that may partially obscure certain details, accentuate distance contrasts between close and far objects, take on interesting colorations, and even glow when lit from behind. During this early August visit to the Sierra on both sides of Tioga Pass, I encountered some significant haze from a serious wildfire in the Mammoth Lakes area. One one hand, this complicated (or rendered nearly impossible!) certain types of “grand landscape” photographs since the constant brown, smoggy haze isn’t quite what we typically are looking for. However, to me this most certainly does not mean that photography and even landscape photography cannot be done. Not only can it be done, but these conditions can create possibilities that are difficult or impossible to find in more typical conditions. (However, in reality, wildfire smoke is “typical” in the Sierra and many other places during certain times of the year.)

There are a number of ways to use smoke and haze in photographs. In this case I found primary foreground subjects that were close enough that they were not obscured. The haze, however, quickly muted the contrast and color of parts of the scene that were even a short distance away on the other side of the valley. The dark, backlit forms of the near trees stand out against this muted background rather than disappearing into the complex patterns and textures of the more distant forest. The backlight had a few other beneficial effects. It intensifies the colors of the low plants growing beneath and between the trees. It creates a sort of highlighting effect on near and far trees, giving a bit more relief to their textures. And it adds a bit of a glow to that smoke and haze, to the point the further alpine slopes in the upper left show only the barest details.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Rocks, Surf, and Dusk Horizon

August 7, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A curving rock shelf extends into the “blue hour” Pacific Ocean surf and toward the fog-darkened horizon as night approaches.

A short, evening visit to the California coast above Santa Cruz began with photography in golden hour light in areas where the fog bank hung just offshore with moist air over the coast creating a gentle, misty atmosphere and soft light. We photographed a few subjects in this light – and looked at others that we did not stop to shoot – and continued north as the sun dropped toward the horizon, where the fog waited to envelop it. We stopped at a beach where large groups of pelicans were resting and then resuming their flight along the coast, and noted that there was still a bit of light in the sky and, oddly, below the bottom of the fog bank along the horizon. As this light died, we turned briefly north, and I soon saw this rocky bench extending into the ocean waves.

Following the evening golden hour there is a time that some call the blue hour – when the warmer colors of sunset drain from the sky and we are left with soft, blue light. It might have seemed odd to anyone watching me photograph this rocky feature, but instead of hurrying to shoot it before the light faded, I took my time – I wanted the light to fade, both for the mysterious blue coloration and because this would make it easier for me to use extended exposure times to allow the water to soften and blur a bit. When I began shooting it was only dark enough to get exposures of perhaps a second or two – at least without adding a neutral density filter – but as I waited, making an occasional photograph in the interim, the light began to move toward a near-night state, and I was able to get exposures of 15 seconds or longer… and that blue light that I was looking for.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: evening

Ridges, Evening Light

Grazing Deer, Ragged Peak

Forest And Meadow, Evening Haze

Rocks, Surf, and Dusk Horizon

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