Tag Archives: gem

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Patterned Cliff Face, Detail

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Patterned Cliff Face, Detail
A small section of shaded Sierra Nevada cliff reveals remarkable details of dikes, fractures, color, and stains

Patterned Cliff Face, Detail. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small section of shaded Sierra Nevada cliff reveals remarkable details of dikes, fractures, color, and stains

Most often when I think of large rocky faces in the Sierra Nevada, the clean, smooth, and almost uniform faces of Yosemite granite come to mind — large expanses of nearly unbroken rock shaped by glaciers. However, when I get into the high country and the other areas of the range I am reminded that things aren’t quite so simple. In places you can find mountains cut through by giant dikes of non-granite rock, or you might encounter the remnants of more ancient layers that lay above the granite intrusions and today give us red, black and other colors of material.

Since I’m no geologist, I can’t explain the details of the face in this photograph, but I can share a few observations. It is the headwall of a high bowl that contains a subalpine lake, and the area does show signs of glaciation. The fact is gigantic, and this is just a small section. It is far from uniform, with mostly gray rock cut through by thick intrusions of lighter material, and the whole thing cracked and fractured. In many places the surface has been deeply stained as water has flowed or seeped across it.

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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” 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

Trees, Granite, Reflections

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Trees, Granite, Reflections
A granite outcropping and trees reflected in the surface of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

Trees, Granite, Reflections. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A granite outcropping and trees reflected in the surface of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

This scene was along the edge of a lake I visited on several evenings, hiking up from our base camp during our September week in the Eastern Sierra Nevada backcountry to make photographs. The logical starting point for photographs here was near the lakes outlet, where there was a small, rocky meadow and several nice granite outcroppings that extended into the lake. I initially began by photographing there.

But soon the light left that area and I decided to wander around a bit more. Not far away was a small bay extending off from the main body of the lake, and on the other side of this bay several attractively twisted and bent trees stood on and in front of a large granite outcropping.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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: People, Photographs: Photographers, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Photographer Scot Miller

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Photographer Scot Miller
Photographer Scot Miller looking for the next photograph in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Photographer Scot Miller. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographer Scot Miller looking for the next photograph in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Scot is one of a group of photographers I photograph with in the Sierra just about every summer. Our habit is to make our way into a suitable backcountry location (hiking, with pack animal support), set up a base camp, and then photograph the heck out of the surrounding area for a week or more. These trips are a pleasure and very productive for a range of reasons. By staying in one place for a time we have the opportunity to really get to know the terrain and light — we can discover a subject and then revisit it to improve our vision of this subject or to work with it in different light or conditions. And because we remain in a base camp and hike out each day to make photographs, our focus can be entirely on photography — unlike on pack trips when daily travel can reduce the opportunities for photography to mostly morning and evening.

Most to the time we photograph individually — making a photograph in these conditions and of these subjects is, for most people, a solitary activity. Each of us follows his own intuition and experience to investigate and photograph. Yet, we aren’t truly alone. Each day we spend hours as a group in camp during those midday hours when the photography is usually not as appealing. And when we are out making photographs it isn’t unusual at all to run into one another. That’s pretty much what happened here. Scot and I found ourselves in the same area, then went different directions, but not before I made a photograph of him looking over the nearby terrain.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

End-Of-Summer Light

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End-Of-Summer Light
Late season Sierra Nevada light in the John Muir Wilderness

End-Of-Summer Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late season Sierra Nevada light in the John Muir Wilderness

As you may have figured out if you follow my work, I often photograph very early and very late in the day, especially when I have access to soft light. On trips like the one where I made this series of photographs the day follows an unusual schedule. We are typically up very early (before dawn) for a few hours of photography, we return to camp to hang out and take care of various camp duties in the middle of the day, and in late afternoon we once again head out into the field, frequently not arriving back in camp until after dark.

But sometimes the light is beautiful outside of those limited hours. There could be special weather conditions — fog, storm clouds, haze — or a landscape that is amenable to midday photography. In the Sierra there is a period from middle September until the first real snows come that can produce some of the most beautiful daytime light I know. I think of it as golden light, and it comes on clear, cool days when the fall colors are arriving. This was one of those days, with the lakeside grasses turning yellow and the water very still, when I made this photograph near the outlet of a small, subalpine lake.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Facebook | Email

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