Tag Archives: fourth

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lupine-Filled Meadow, Evening

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Lupine-Filled Meadow, Evening
Lupine blooms carpet and alpine meadow against a backdrop of evening light on Sierra Nevada peaks

Lupine-Filled Meadow, Evening. John Muir Wilderness, California. August 28, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lupine blooms carpet and alpine meadow against a backdrop of evening light on Sierra Nevada peaks

This was an unusual and exceptional year in the Sierra Nevada, primarily because the range finally — after five years of drought! — had not only good winter precipitation, but record-breaking precipitation. After watching the range dry out in very scary ways for the paste half of a decade, it has been tremendously gratifying to see a summer season that felt more normal. Because of the heavy winter storms, the high country snow melted out later than usual, and many places that typically might open by June or earlier were still closed well into July. And when the high country did open, there was still snow everywhere and creeks and rivers continued to run high well into the summer.

A side effect of all of this was that the short high country season of growth was delayed and extended, as we clearly saw during our week-plus backcountry photography excursion at the end of August and into the first few days of September. In a typical year I usually begin to sense autumn coming on by this point in the season, but this year it felt like full-blown summer: the creeks were still flowing strongly, there were snow fields in the higher mountains and we still had to cross them to get over passes, meadows were lush and green, and there were wildflowers everywhere. this meadow was a wonderful example. Located only a short walk away from our camp, it was absolutely filled with flowers, but especially with one of the largest displays of lupine that I’ve seen in the range.

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: Sierra Nevada

Mountains, Alpine Tarn, Dark Clouds

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Mountains, Alpine Tarn, Dark Clouds
Dark clouds assemble behind a ridge over a tarn nestled in an alpine meadow

Mountains, Alpine Tarn, Dark Clouds. John Muir Wilderness, California. August 28, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dark clouds assemble behind a ridge over a tarn nestled in an alpine meadow

I first visited this area a number of years ago — I think it may have been a dozen years now. I was on a fast and light trip with a buddy, carrying an ultra-light load and sleeping in a bivy sack. We entered this general area and went straight to a lake close to timberline where we made a base camp and went on to further explore the upper reaches of this basin. This return trip was different in many ways, but perhaps most of all in its almost exclusive focus on photography. We stopped at a lower lake and set up a camp, hidden in trees on top of a moraine, and there we would remain for more than a week, wandering out each day to look for photographic subjects. I soon discovered that I had missed a true gem on that earlier visit.

On the first full day of this recent trip we left our campsite and, in small groups, ascended the rocky moraine through small trees to reach a little use trail. We followed that upwards, still in forest. But then there were breaks in the forest cover and suddenly a large meadow covered the rounded hills at the top of an old glacially sculpted where a lake had likely once filled a shallow valley. (A small tarn is all that remains today.) Whatever your fantasy of a mountain meadow might be, the first sight of this scene exceeded it. The grasses were still green, even though it was near the end of August. Wildflowers in a rainbow of colors were sprinkled throughout the meadow. Peaks rose on three sides, and on the fourth side there was a deep valley with even higher peaks beyond. I returned to this spot many times — probably once a day for the next week — and I made this photograph a few days later, in the early evening as low angle light slanted across the meadow and distant peaks and dark thunder clouds began to gather in the further distance.

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: Sierra Nevada

High Country Meadow and Trail

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High Country Meadow and Trail
A use trail cuts across a subalpine meadow high in the John Muir Wilderness

High Country Meadow and Trail. John Muir Wilderness, California. August 28, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A use trail cuts across a subalpine meadow high in the John Muir Wilderness

Earlier this afternoon we left our camp down at a lower lake and headed off into higher country. I followed a use trail up to a moraine ridge, then passed over a section of beautiful meadow with stunning views of surrounding peaks and closer views of late-season wildflowers. From here I simply followed the watershed up the valley a ways until a decent stream crossing presented itself, and from there I wandered across glaciated slabs to the top of a low ridge separating our valley from another containing several lakes.

It was late in the day, so the time available for lingering on the ridge was limited. I soon spotted Patty traversing a lower section of the slabs and I headed down to join her. We continued down to the creek where we had a moment of good light on a small lake before the sun dropped behind a high ridge and left us in shadow. As we continued down the drainage toward that meadow where we started the views to the south opened up and the evening light was still on the ridges. We stopped before descending to the meadow, and from here a narrow trail was visible as it traversed one side of the meadow just below a rocky section filled with old glacial erratics, with a dramatic backdrop of high peaks on the far side of the valley.

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: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Man, Blue Building

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Walking Man, Blue Building
Walking Man, Blue Building

Walking Man, Blue Building. San Francisco, California. May 31, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man walks into the sun in front of a blue building, San Francisco, California

This building is, indeed, very blue. I passed it in the low angle morning light shortly after getting off the Caltrain and starting to walk up into the City. The area along Fourth Street seems to change each time I visit and the balance between very funky old businesses and so forth versus newer and slightly hipper stuff continues to shift toward the latter. I’m not sure what this building is, but I’m pretty certain that it is no longer some sort of garage or mechanical shop.

The first thing that caught my attention about this building was, no surprise, the blue color. I thought about how I could arrange the components of the shot to include only blue and white elements, but given the lens I was working with and a few other factors, that wasn’t possible – so there is a bit of brick wall at the upper right intruding into the blue sky. I’m starting to like it. Two other things that I saw here were the angled shadow and the trash collection bins. The two of them and the square shadow on the roll-up door seem to create a sort of pattern, and the walking person – also in a dark jacket and with a shadow, seems to bisect the space between the far right shadow and the middle bin. Without the figure, the shot didn’t seem all that interesting to me, so I employed a technique I often use when shooting urban subjects like this: compose and wait for something/someone to walk into the frame.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.