Tag Archives: forest

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

Subalpine Lake and Forest

Image September 25, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Forest borders aYosemite National Park back-country lake.

Technically this little lake is in the Yosemite National Park “backcountry…” but just barely. It is, as far as I know, the the closest spot to roads where you may backpack in the park and camp overnight. It is a bit of a special place for our family. I took each of our three children on their first backpack trips when they were three-years-old, and this was always the destination. The first two went with just me, but when it was time for our third to go he was accompanied by the whole family.

This past week I found myself between photography locations one afternoon, and on a whim I decided to hike up there again. It may have been the first time I decades. As I hiked the very short trail I thought back to those early trips. On the first one our oldest son took four hours to hike the 1. 2 miles. But I’m sure he looked at every rock, tree, and bug along the way. In some ways out daughter — the second to take the trip — may have been the most natural back county traveler as a child. (On one later trip she memorably sang most of the way up a nearly 8 mile hike.) The third trip was extra special, since the entire family went along and squeezed into a giant five-person backpacking tent, seeking protection from a thunder and lightning storm we still talk about. (“Make it stop, Daddy!” Though Patty remembers it as, “Make it stop, Mommy!”))

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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Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Where Once a Forest Stood

Image September 23, 2023 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

The skeletons of ponderosa pines at the edge of high desert.

Today I interrupt the stream of photos from our European travels (“Finally!,” a few of you say…) to share something from my first return to the Sierra and points east since we got home. The European trip was great — and I look forward to more like it — but I missed my mountains! There’s a lot more to write about that and about getting back “out there,” but I will save most of it for later posts.

On this morning I was camped above 9000′ in the Eastern Sierra, but I decided (for reasons including deteriorating weather) to head out along the eastern slopes of the range to photograph in the early light. After some less-than-satisfying photography of the eastern escarpment (wildfire smoke was an issue) I headed out into the high desert near Mono Lake and then into a remarkable grove of ponderosa pines, one of the largest (perhaps the largest) in existence. I was aware of the results of a wildfire here years ago, and I wanted to photograph the remains of burned forest, so I turned off on an unmarked route and ended up here, where dead trees still stand starkly against the desert landscape.

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Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Kosovo, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Travel

Kosovo Forest

Image September 8, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Although much of our 2023 summer travel was to relatively popular areas of Southern Europe, we had the good fortune to break able to venture off that track a bit. A highlight was four days in Kosovo, a place I probably would not have thought to visit — except that someone in the extended family was brought up there and has family living in the country. So during the final two weeks of our trip, a time devoted to getting together with relatives, we spent four days in Kosovo, staying in the home of our family member, who took us to a bunch of fascinating places that we otherwise wouldn’t have known about. This photograph comes from one such place, along the river leading to the “White Drin Waterfall.”

I did not have many opportunities to do landscape photography on this trip — we mostly visited cities, I was carrying equipment intended for street and travel photography, and I couldn’t impose on my traveling partners in the ways that landscape photographers usually do. But I did have a few opportunities, including this one. Behind me was a very busy trail, crowded with people walking to the waterfall and the “Sleeping Beauty Cave.” But I pointed the camera the other way and photographed the lovely, soft light in this dense forest.

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.

Photographs: Nature

Tiny Flowers

Image August 14, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Small orange flowers growing in forest shadows

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: forest

Subalpine Lake and Forest

Where Once a Forest Stood

Kosovo Forest

Tiny Flowers

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