Tag Archives: granite

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

Precipice, Clouds

December 26, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn storm clouds hover around a granite precipice

It was a late in the afternoon — almost evening, actually — when I made this photograph near the end of October. I had been in the Yosemite area for a few days, photographing fall color and the moody conditions of an early season rain storm, and late in the day as the storm cleared out the remnant clouds hugged the granite cliffs of the Valley.

Conditions like these are highly variable and continuously change from moment to moment. This is not the sort of landscape that you photograph by carefully composing a subject and then making a single exposure! The clouds are in motion, and with the intense backlight from the west the visibility of elements of the landscape changes continuously. Here the light in the clouds was so bright that the exposure rendered the shaded cliff face in very dark tones.

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

Trees, Cliffs, and Clearing Autumn Storm

December 25, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn storm clouds clear from granite cliffs of Yosemite Valley

I had a shorter time than usual for my late October Yosemite fall color this year. First off, I had some business to attend to in the town of Oakhurst, along the southern route into the park. I took care of that, drove to the Valley in beautiful fog and rain, photographed for a few hours, and headed back to Oakhurst. (More typically, I’ll stay in the Valley, even if it means camping in the rain.) The next morning I was up early, with good intentions about getting back to the Valley for the first light. But there were too many distractions on the drive — beautiful fall color in the forests, more fog, clouds filling valleys — and I didn’t get there until later.

It was another “interesting” weather day, mostly clearing, but still clouds hanging around. The clouds of autumn and winter are a favorite subject of mine here, so when I stopped to photograph these autumn trees along the edge of a meadow, I think it may have been at least partially an excuse to watch the clouds flowing back and forth along the tall granite walls, momentarily parting to reveal the details of the mountain and then closing up again. Here the faint afternoon sunlight is coming from the left and lighting the trees. The cliff is in shadow, hence that deep bluish tones of the rock, and thinning clouds pass by further up the flanks of the valley walls.

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

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

Tree Trunks, Autumn Leaves

November 12, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Against a background of Yosemite Valley granite cliffs, tall tree trunks tower above autumn color

It isn’t unusual for me to try both a portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) version of a photograph when both are possible. If for no other reason, sometimes a client may wish to license an image in a specific orientation, and I hate to say, “Uh, no” when asked if the other one is available! But in other cases, the subject really works both ways, and I feel like this is one such subject. A few days ago I shared a landscape orientation photograph of this subject. In some ways that wider-than-tall approach to trees can do a better job of suggesting the height of something by perhaps creating a subliminal impression that the subject is so tall that it doesn’t fit the frame — and the viewer gets to imagine what is “up there.” On the other hand, the portrait orientation can actually present the strong verticals with fewer distractions.

This photograph, and others in the series, were made near a popular and iconic Yosemite Valley location where I had stopped for a moment. Nearby, and in the opposition direction from that icon, there is a lovely bit of dry grass meadow dotted with small oak trees, and my object was to go photograph there. One thing led to the next and I soon found myself in a small clearing next to these tall trucks that had recently been burned a bit in a management fire.

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

Autumn Color, Granite Cliff

November 10, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Transient autumn big leaf maple color in front of the granite face of El Capitan

Many of the beautiful Yosemite Valley big leaf maple trees, with their striking fall foliage, tend to be tucked away in somewhat protected areas, often in dense forest or alongside the river. Here I found one, and a rather large specimen, that stood enough apart from other trees that I was able to isolate it from the rest of the forest.

I had stopped here to photograph a different set of trees, a group that was more typically set against the dark backdrop of tall forest trees and in the shadow of the southern wall of the Valley. As I worked I looked around and happened to glance up at the face of El Capitan and notice that its usually intensely bright face was muted a bit by some high clouds, revealing details that are otherwise hard to see in the middle of the day. In fact, there was a slight blue cast to shadows and some of the dark stains on the rock, a coloration that seemed to contrast nicely with the intense yellow of the fall foliage of the maples.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: granite

Precipice, Clouds

Trees, Cliffs, and Clearing Autumn Storm

Tree Trunks, Autumn Leaves

Autumn Color, Granite Cliff

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