Tag Archives: face

Autumn Foliage and Rain, Merced River Near Cathedral Rocks

Autumn Foliage and Rain, Merced River Near Cathedral Rocks

Autumn Foliage and Rain, Merced River Near Cathedral Rocks. Yosemite Valley, California. November 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn foliage lines the riverbanks as rain falls on the Merced River near Cathedral Rocks – Yosemite Valley.

One more – probably the last – in the series of photographs* of this scene made from the bridge near El Capitan Meadow. In this one the rain, which had diminished to mere sprinkles when I began to shoot from this location, began to return in earnest. The surface of the river has lost is reflectivity and is cloudy in this photo. If you look closely (or inspect the print) you can see the raindrops on the surface of the water. This was pretty much the story of this entire weekend of photography. It rained most of the time, occasionally hard. I did quite a bit of my photography between showers and under improvised rain protection.

Although this was photographed near El Capitan Meadow, the rock face beyond the river and the trees is not El Capitan. It is Cathedral Rocks, a large formation that is almost directly across the Valley from El Capitan and a bit east of Bridalveil Fall. If it were located anywhere else where it was not dwarfed by El Capitan, it would be regarded as a very imposing face it its own right.

* The previous two related photographs are here and here

keywords: fall, autumn, foliage, leaves, trees, forest, grove, bank, river, bank, merced, cathedral, rocks, cliff, face, rain, precipitation, drops, grass, el capitan, meadow, float, yosemite, valley, national park, california, usa, sierra, nevada, mountains, nature, scenic, travel, landscape, stock, mist, cloud

Merced River Fall Color, El Capitan Bridge

Merced River Fall Color, El Capitan Bridge

Merced River Fall Color, El Capitan Bridge. Yosemite Valley, California. November 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fall color along the banks of the Merced River at the El Capitan Bridge, Yosemite Valley.

This is a second photograph that I made of this scene last weekend. (I posted the other one here a few days ago.) The first major winter storm of the season was just coming in, and it had already rained enough to cause the Merced River to begin to rise – which explains the debris floating on the surface in this photo.

I decided to work this scene with prime lenses rather than my zooms, so I made the previous photograph using the somewhat wider view of my 35mm lens and made this one using a 50mm prime. Frankly, I’m still going back and forth on which I like best. I like the way that this tighter crop fills the frame with the fall colors, but I like the composition of the wider view, too.

keywords: fall, autumn, color, foliage, leaves, gold, yellow, green, tree, oak, leaves, plants, nature, water, merced, river, bend, el capitan, meadow, bridge, mountain, cliff, face, reflection, yosemite, valley, national park, seaon, fog, cloud, california, usa, log, landscape, scenic, travel, stock

Mount Whitney, Guitar Lake, Evening

Mount Whitney, Guitar Lake, Evening
The west face of Mount Whitney at sunset, viewed from Guitar Lake

West Face of Mount Whitney, Guitar Lake, Evening. Sequoia National Park, California. August 10, 2008. © Copyright 2008 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The west face of Mount Whitney at sunset, viewed from Guitar Lake

Near the end of my early August 2008 trans-Sierra pack trip from Crescent Meadow to Whitney Portal we found ourselves at Guitar Lake, the traditional base camp for west side approaches to Mount Whitney. We arrived fairly early to set up camp, and after lazing around and finally getting dinner it was time to do some photography – so I took my equipment and headed to the outlet of the lake where I made this photograph as the last sun hit the peak and was reflected in the lake.


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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Morning Light and Snow, Yosemite Valley

YosemiteValleyMornSnow2006|03|04: Morning Light and Snow. Yosemite Valley. March 4, 2006. © "Copyright G Dan Mitchell". ("sales")    keywords: yosemite valley new snow winter morning blue sky bridalveil fall el capitan half dome wawona tunnel view california color photograph

Morning Light and Snow. Yosemite Valley. March 4, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.