Tag Archives: face

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Sunset Tree, Granite Cliff

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Sunset Tree, Granite Cliff
A solitary tree caught in a beam of sunset light beneath El Capitan

Sunset Tree, Granite Cliff. Yosemite Valley, California. February 25. 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary tree caught in a beam of sunset light beneath El Capitan

As a friend recently wrote, lots of photography stories begin with a recounting of how bad the light was and end with an unexpected miracle of light. I’m not sure that this event qualifies as a miracle, but it certainly was unexpected. After a day of photographing in Yosemite Valley I was more or less ready to take a break and clouds were closing in, so I decided I might as well head to Tunnel View and just take a look. I had no plan to photograph. I arrived and parked, got out of my vehicle, and walked to the overlook unburdened by any photographic equipment at all. Clouds were thickening above the Valley and it looked like a predicted weather front was probably approaching from the west, meaning that more clouds would be blocking the light from the west. I decided to go back to my car to get my smart phone so that I could walk back and make a “Hi, I’m here!” photo to send to my family.

As I returned, I saw a beam of light start to illuminate the opposite valley wall to the west-northwest, and I quickly figured out that it was gradually angling toward the base of El Capitan. There are no guarantees of how such an event will unfold, but it is better to be prepared and end up disappointed than to not be ready and miss photographing something glorious. So I dashed back to the car again, grabbed camera gear, rushed back, and set up. By now the narrow beam of light was traversing the valley wall almost all the way to the base of El Capitan, and for a brief moment it caught this solitary tree in its spotlight as another band of golden hour light washed across the upper face and lit the edge of the monolith.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Fractured Sandstone Cliff

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Fractured Sandstone Cliff
A fractured sandstone cliff and fallen boulders

Fractured Sandstone Cliff. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 26, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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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

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Autumn Color, Granite Cliff
Transient autumn big leaf maple color in front of the granite face of El Capitan

Autumn Color, Granite Cliff. Yosemite Valley, California. October 29, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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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

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

Glaciated Terrain. Yosemite National Park, California. July 14, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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