Tag Archives: face

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

Fractured Sandstone Cliff

January 30, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A fractured sandstone cliff and fallen boulders

A few years back a small group of us spent time photographing in southern Utah, from Capitol Reef National Park to the east to Zion National Park to the west and at points in between. The day when I made this photograph began very early in sub-freezing conditions, walking out on a route along a remote ridge. But we ended that day back in a more civilized location, at a canyon with tall sandstone walls, in places forming abrupt cliffs and in other areas being fractured and covered with some amount of vegetation.

We came to this section just after sunset, which comes a bit early in this spot since the terrain to the west of the part tilts gradually upwards. The spot where we photographed is along a gravel road, and on both sides it is lined with monumental sandstone cliffs that are fundamentally smooth and blocky. However, even such cliffs erode, and here the process is laid bare. Huge vertical slabs are separating from the walls and leaning away, and the bases of the cliffs are filled with broken material topped with giant boulders.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Autumn Color, Granite Cliff

November 10, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Transient autumn big leaf maple color in front of the granite face of El Capitan

Many of the beautiful Yosemite Valley big leaf maple trees, with their striking fall foliage, tend to be tucked away in somewhat protected areas, often in dense forest or alongside the river. Here I found one, and a rather large specimen, that stood enough apart from other trees that I was able to isolate it from the rest of the forest.

I had stopped here to photograph a different set of trees, a group that was more typically set against the dark backdrop of tall forest trees and in the shadow of the southern wall of the Valley. As I worked I looked around and happened to glance up at the face of El Capitan and notice that its usually intensely bright face was muted a bit by some high clouds, revealing details that are otherwise hard to see in the middle of the day. In fact, there was a slight blue cast to shadows and some of the dark stains on the rock, a coloration that seemed to contrast nicely with the intense yellow of the fall foliage of the maples.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Glaciated Terrain

October 6, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Trees in morning light on a glaciated dome, back by an immense fractured granite face, Yosemite National Park

I’m often out before the first light and then again as the last sunlight turns to dusk. These are not the only times of day worth photographing, but they are times that often produce beautiful light and colors and effects, with warm light and dramatic shadows. Many times — even during the busiest times of the year — I have stood it some of the most impressive locations and witnesses the most astonishing light… almost alone. I don’t know whether to encourage everyone to get up early and stay out late or to perhaps just keep relatively quiet and enjoy the solitude! I sometimes wonder how different our ideas of the Sierra are, depending upon when we are out and about as more or more than where we go.

In a spot like this one, the arrival of morning light is a highly dynamic thing — not at all a static or even slow-moving event. For example, here the light is raking across the foreground granite slab the tilts down from left to right, at the angle of the light is only briefly ideal to light the trees without also lighting the granite. The whole transition from first light on tree tops to a bit too much on the granite might take little more than a minute.

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

Sierra Nevada Trees And Granite

May 31, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Trees grow at the base of a granite face, Yosemite National Park

I originally worked up this photograph for an article on the relationship between supposed realism in photographs and post-processing. (“Photographs And Reality: A Complicated Relationship”) I selected it because the scene posted a particular common challenge, namely a dynamic range that was wider than the typical dynamic range of presentation media, and because capturing the full scene required me to make some exposure decisions that intentionally produce an original “straight out of camera” image that wasn’t lovely, but which protected the scene data I would need to work with the photograph in post.

The subject is a group of large-trunk trees growing on granite slabs at the base of a Yosemite high country granite dome. This landscape — more or less the landscape of much of Yosemite — is interesting in so many ways. Here the trees seem to somehow grow out of little more than cracks in solid granite, and shortly beyond where they stand the rock becomes too steep and too solid to support more large trees. While such scenes can be found throughout the park and in many more inaccessible areas, this one is right alongside Tioga Pass Road!

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: face

Fractured Sandstone Cliff

Autumn Color, Granite Cliff

Glaciated Terrain

Sierra Nevada Trees And Granite

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