Tag Archives: granite

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

Granite Cliffs, Last Light

March 4, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The line of last sunset light crosses rugged granite cliffs in Yosemite National Park

Late last month I had the good fortune to spend a week in Yosemite, thanks to the Yosemite Renaissance artist-in-residence program. Their generosity provided me with a warm place to stay in the park and, most important, with time to chase photographs in the Valley and elsewhere. (With the onset — finally! — of winter weather in the park, it also gave me lots of opportunities to practice my winter driving skills!)

The Valley is, of course, filled with wonderful and well-known icons. Like virtually everyone, I photograph those, too, particularly when special conditions bring the possibility of special and different light and atmosphere to those familiar subjects. However, over time I have become more interested in other little bits of visual interest that don’t necessarily reflect the best-known features. On this evening I was at one of the most famous locations — with the promise of light snow, drifting clouds, and evening light breaking through. I make a habit of scanning the entire 360 panorama around me, even when the most obvious subject is in a 45 degree vector straight in front, and near the very end of the day a beam of sunset light passed across a rocky outcropping to my left, producing intense light on the rocks while the evening’s blue and purple colors began to fill the canyons.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fractured Granite

November 27, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A fractured granite cliff in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

I made this photograph on a morning when I was in the eastern Sierra to photograph autumn subject, particularly the annual color change of the aspen trees. Being in a place where I have photographed many times, I quickly dispensed with the familiar (and even iconic) subjects in the area and then, as I like to do, simply wandered slowly with my eyes open, looking for little elements of the larger landscape that caught my eye. Although I have walked past this granite quite a few times, it may be the first time I have photographed it.

Granite (along with, as geologist friends might remind me, rocks informally referred to as granite) is ubiquitous in the Sierra, and is one of the most characteristic features of the Sierra Nevada experience. Not only is there a lot of it, but it has been laid bare by (mostly) glacial action, and it appears in its original locations and in places where the rocks have been moved by water and ice. As a person who has hiked here for decades and who spent a few years as a rock climber, I developed an intimate familiarity with this rock. It can be smooth or rough, uniform in color and texture or interspersed with veins and crystals. It can be freezing cold in winter or benignly warm on a summer day. It may be nearly white, gray, or incorporate a host of color variations. It seems to be solid and unchanging, but there is evidence everywhere that it has been moved and broken and shaped.

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

Cliff Face and Bare Aspen Trees

November 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Bare aspen tree trunks and branches against a backdrop of a Sierra Nevada rock face

There are all kinds of ways to photograph aspens, and they can be photographed during virtually any season: winter trees with snow, spring trees with new leaves, summer trees surrounded by wildflowers and grasses, autumn colors, and this wonderful time when the bare trees stand out against the rest of the surrounding terrain. At this latter stage they can be photogenic on their own or they can be set off against backdrops of other trees, rocks, or the fallen leaves littering the ground.

These specific trees have gotten my attention in the past. They grow against a fractured granite backdrop, and they are in a location where I might go to photograph other fall subjects. So when I go to photograph those subjects, I often end up walking past this spot and pausing. While nearby trees still had a lot of colorful leaves, these smaller trees had already dropped almost all of theirs.

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

Dogwood and Granite, Autumn

November 17, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small dogwood tree with autumn colors against the face of a granite boulder

I’m certainly not the only photographer in Yosemite Valley to be intrigued by the juxtaposition of (near) permanent granite and impermanent seasonal subjects, but how can anyone resist? Such opportunities are everywhere, given that the valley is ringed by granite cliffs and filled with large reminders that chunks of these cliffs do periodically break loose and fall into the valley below. We often seem surprised with the news of a rock slide in the Valley, but even a little familiarity with the place makes it obvious that these are the rule and not the exception. Giant rock piles sit at the bases of cliffs. Recent slides are visible. And almost everywhere in the Valley, often surprisingly far from the cliffs, there are gigantic boulders that could only have arrived there from one source.

I happened upon this yellow autumn dogwood and its boulder while driving along one of the valley roads. Yes, that is almost an embarrassing admission — though most of my photographs of this type come while hiking. It was one of those moments when I catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye, immediately pull over (from driving or hiking) and see if I can find a photograph in it. Since I’ve already admitted to finding this photograph while driving, how about another admission? The biggest challenge of making this photograph? Waiting for the leaves to stop swinging back and forth in the breeze created by passing cars!

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: granite

Granite Cliffs, Last Light

Fractured Granite

Cliff Face and Bare Aspen Trees

Dogwood and Granite, Autumn

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