Tag Archives: fire

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fire Trail, Calero Hills

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Fire Trail, Calero Hills
“Fire Trail, Calero Hills” — A trail through Central California oak grassland with winter morning light.

This is an unusual post — a “make up” post to restore a lost photograph to the archives. It is an old photograph from 2006 that probably once appeared on this website but seems to have disappeared. I regularly share older “From the Archive” images on social media, and as I prepared this photo for sharing I was unable to find an original post here. Consequently, I worked up this slightly revised version and am sharing it here today.

The photograph comes from a San Francisco Bay Area park where I have hiked and photographed for decades. I visit at all times of the year and in all imaginable conditions. This one comes from a morning hike in the winter, when the low angle sun cast strong shadows across the landscape beneath the skeletal forms of winter trees.

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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

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

Oaks, Meadow, Drifting Smoke

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Oaks, Meadow, Drifting Smoke
“Oaks, Meadow, Drifting Smoke” — Smoke from a management fire drifts among autumn black oak trees in Yosemite Valley.

This photograph and the circumstances that led to it are a reminder about how things sometimes turn out differently than you might expect. I had left for Yosemite Valley hours before sunrise, planning to arrive in time to photograph in early morning light. Everything was going fine until I got into the lower Valley and discovered that smoke from a managed fire was blanketing the subject! I was quite disappointed as I drove along the south side of the Valley. But there I was, and there the smoke was, and I was there to make photographs — so I decided to see what possibilities might remain.

I crossed over to the north side of the valley, and looked back into the sunlight and these trees silhouetted in the drifting smoke, which was now glowing in the backlight from sunlight coming over the Valley rim. The backlight made the brown autumn oak leaves glow, and the slowly drifting smoke constantly altered the landscape, sometimes revealing and sometimes hiding features.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Oaks, Morning

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Autumn Oaks, Morning
Autumn oak trees silhouetted in morning light, against the backdrop of smoke from a managed fire, Yosemite Valley.

Autumn Oaks, Morning. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn oak trees silhouetted in morning light, against the backdrop of smoke from a managed fire, Yosemite Valley.

This photograph comes from the my November 1 visit to Yosemite Valley on a day when a managed fire filled the air with smoke. It was especially thick here, as the fire was burning more or less around the meadow containing these trees. In the photograph you can probably see the thicker smoke in the shaded distance, though where I was standing it was not quite as bad.

There were several key features making this photograph work. The slender trunks of these trees are always interesting, but here they were backlight by intense sunlight coming over the top of the Valley walls, increasing the saturation of the fall leaf color. This light also left the trunks in silhouette while lighting up some of the dry autumn grasses, and the smoke muted background distractions.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Meadow, Drifting Smoke

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Autumn Meadow, Drifting Smoke
Light beams pass through drifting smoke to illuminate autumn trees, Yosemite Valley.

Autumn Meadow, Drifting Smoke. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Light beams pass through drifting smoke to illuminate autumn trees, Yosemite Valley.

This was just about my first photograph on a November 1 fall color visit to Yosemite Valley. I drove up very early in the morning, departing hours before sunrise so I could be there for early light. At first I was disappointed to find a managed fire in the valley — it filled the west end with thick smoke and produced some haze almost everywhere. For a moment I contemplated driving back out of the Valley and photographing in lower, clearer country. But as I drove a short Valley loop I found that the smoke was producing dramatic effects in some places.

In the end, most photographs I made on this visit involved that haze, which varied from barely visible up to smoke that choked the lungs and burned the eyes. Here the smoke was fairly thick, though it did not spread too far, and even thought there was a lot of smoke among the trees the air was relatively clear where I set up. As I made this photograph the rising sun was still low in the sky, and the interplay of light and shadow formed angled light beams.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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