Tag Archives: grass

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Stream, Evening

November 16, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A stream meanders through a subalpine meadow on its way to a lake, John Muir Wilderness

This photograph is the final one (for now, at least) in a series that takes me back to late summer, high in the eastern Sierra Nevada, base-camped for over a week with friends and extensively photographing the surrounding area. A group of us does this almost every summer, so a good thing is made even better through the combination of time devoted to beautiful photographic subjects, time spent in these stunning places, and time spent with good friends. We say we are there to photograph – and we certainly are! — but the truth is that we also spend a lot of time hanging out, talking, and just being.

I made the photograph on the last evening before our planned departure the next day to return to what passes for the real world. The location is a meadow right below our campsite, which was hidden in trees up on the hill of an old moraine. Strangely, even though we were camped right next to this wonderful spot I had not really focused my attention on photographing it, often instead wandering off to more distant subjects. On the final days of the trip it occurred to me that I should finally spend some time in this spot right in the neighborhood! So, late in the day on the final evening of the trip, off I went to walk slowly along the edge of “our” lake, crossing small inlet streams and traversing the surrounding meadows.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Reflections, Early Morning

September 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A distant ridge in very early morning light is reflected on the surface of an alpine tarn

A photograph is a curious thing. It can “tell” you things about a subject — and about the person who made the photograph — that might not be easily communicated in other ways. On the other hand, a photograph usually leaves it to the viewer to guess at many aspects of the image’s context — and the viewer either brings her/his own context or may simply be unaware. For example, I probably see this scene very differently from others who view the photograph, even those who were there or who know the place. Let me explain.

What is not “visible” in this photograph? It was made near the end of a long stay in this area, where we were camped in forest a few hundred feet lower near a lake. So by this time I knew the spot quite well, and rather than “discovering” it I was essentially revisiting and looking more closely at things I already had seen. I had crawled out of my tent before sunrise, resisting the temptation to stay in the warm sleeping bag “for just a few more minutes,” and instead unzipping the bag, pulling on a down jacket and boots, heading outside and shouldering my gear. It was still not light when I arrived here, and a made a few “warm up” photographs as I wandered around this pond in the damp meadow. To make the photograph I was standing almost as much in the lake as I was next to it. At the time of this photograph the first, warm dawn light had come and gone, though the alignment of the peaks meant that not much direct light fell on the scene. Having visiting this spot for a week now, I was also noticing that the grass on the rise across the small pond was now visibly transitioning from summer green to autumn brown. As I worked a breeze came up, ruffling the surface of the water — and this photograph was made during a brief interval when it quieted enough to reflect the distant peaks. And speaking of those peaks, as I stood here and looked at them I was also aware that in about 48 hours I would be leaving, crossing a 12,000′ pass that is visible at the low point on that ridge. The trip was coming to an end.

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

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

August 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on Lembert Dome and the forest and grasses of Tuolumne Meadow

The prior day was one of thick wildfire smoke, coming mainly from a fire on the far side of the park near Wawona, but also with contributions from various others fires including some small, managed lightening fires. The effect was not good — the smoke here was as thick as I’ve ever seen it before, including during a late summer visit to Cathedral Lakes a few years back during the height of the drought, when at times it seemed like the entire Sierra was on fire. In any case, the evening before I made this photograph it was still very smokey, and I wondered what the next morning would bring.

As usual, I woke up before sunrise. I was tempted to stay in the warm sleeping bag a while longer, but I summoned the focus to look outside. Noting that I could see blue sky, I got up fairly quickly and left the tent, heading down to the meadow. There was still just a bit of residual smoke hanging around, and there was also a shallow layer of light ground fog. All of this produces some very interesting atmosphere and light as I wandered the meadow, walking between grassy areas and encroaching bits of forest. I paused here, positions myself so that the large trees at the right would block the direct sun, and I made a few photographs including all of the elements of this landscape except the river that passed by out of sight.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Sunset, Carrizo Plain

April 21, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A sunset view down toward the edge of the Temblor Hills toward Carrizo Plain, lakes, and distant mountains

This has been — and likely will continue to be — and exceptional spring for California wildflower color. After an extended and historic drought that lasted roughly five years, the rainy season now coming to an end has been record-setting in the opposite direction. We’ve had floods, washing out highways, remarkable snowfall, and as of this week the state produced an all-time record for seasonal precipitation in portions of the norther Sierra Nevada. The natural world seems to have come back to life again, and in places that have been arid for the past few years we are now seeing lush green spring growth and lots of wildflowers.

Many of us decided to visit some of the interior locations where the seasonal grasslands can produce impressive wildflower blooms. On my way to Death Valley during the first week of April I detoured to join friends who were already in the Carrizo Plains region, and I managed to do one evening and one morning of photography there. On the first evening we found a somewhat remote area in the hills alongside the plain where we could see some large fields of flowers above, and we headed up into the hills to photograph them. From this elevation the views of the Plain opened up, and I made this photograph during the final minutes before sunset.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: grass

Meadow, Stream, Evening

Reflections, Early Morning

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

Sunset, Carrizo Plain

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