Tag Archives: haze

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

Autumn Light, Trees and Meadow

October 26, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn afternoon light falls on meadow and trees in Yosemite Valley

These trees and I have become old friends. I have photographed the trees and the meadow in which they are located many times over the years. (I don’t generally name places, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of fellow Yosemite visitors recognize them.) I’ve been there in every season — summer (fighting crowds!), fall (with oaks turning golden brown), spring (with green meadows and new leaves the trees), and winter (when I hiked across closed roads to get here, and had the meadow to myself).

When photographing in Yosemite Valley I almost always pay close attention not only to my immediate subjects but also to the atmospheric conditions and the light. On this day smoke from wildfires filled the valley. At first that might seem rather unpleasant — and it certainly is not good for eyes or lungs! — but it also can create some beautiful atmospheric effects, from muting colors to glowing in the light. At this time of year the sun passes lower in the sky and the edges of shadows move across the Valley floor and create changing and beautiful conditions. At this location the first light arrives late and leaves early since there are very tall granite faces nearby that block the sun. I arrived here just at the moment before the shadow moved over these trees, but while a shaft of light came through a cleft in the upper cliff walls and fell on the trees.

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

Back-lit Trees and Ridges

October 13, 2017 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Low, late afternoon sun back-lights autumn aspen trees and receding ridges, Eastern Sierra Nevada

What can I say? I love back-light! The more difficult the light, the more I like it. Often I shoot almost directly into the sun when it is low in the sky, especially when there is some haze that makes the atmosphere appear to glow. (I’ve become adept at shading the lens from the direct light — using my hand, my hat, or anything else handy to try to prevent lens flare and reduce the hazy quality that comes when this light is directly on the lens.) The kind of light I’m looking for is the sort that is too bright to look at.

We arrived at this location late in the day, as per my plan. I know it well enough to recognize that the light can become quite interesting just before the sun drops behind mountains to the west. For a short time the light slants across the landscape, almost parallel to the slope of the land as it drops to the east. This produces that glow I mentioned, it accentuates the atmospheric recession effect, and the leaves of trees can glow with the light coming from behind. For this photograph I found a spot where lines of colorful aspens crossed the frame from bottom to about half way up, and then ridges continued the pattern until the final pattern with its row of conifer trees.

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

Morning Above The Meadow

August 17, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

First light comes to ridges and peaks above a subalpine meadow

Nothing was yet open along Tioga Pass Road when I visited in late July. Typically all of the campgrounds would be open by this point, but an exceptionally heavy winter snowfall had delayed the process of clearing the road and opening up the high country. There was still a lot of snow at around 10,000′ and higher, and water was running high and fast everywhere. Early in the morning I drove back into the park from my camp site just east of the crest, heading down to Tuolumne Meadows to make some early morning photographs.

I’m often a bit surprised by how few people who camp at Tuolumne manage to make it out to the meadow for first light, missing what is arguably the most beautiful time of the day. On this day, with the campground closed, there was almost no one else at the meadow — I had the place almost entirely to myself. I stopped at the lower end of the meadow and looked back to the east, across the meadow and then a series of successive ridges, including a couple of well-known domes, and finally to the summit of Mount Dana. The sun had just risen on the east side of the range, and its light was beginning to pour over the ridges of the Sierra crest.

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

Granite, Forest, and Lake

June 11, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Granite slabs, mountains, and forest surround Tenaya Lake

This is, no doubt, a very familiar spot to anyone who has spent much time in the Yosemite High Country. It is, of course, Tenaya Lake, the big lake along Tioga Pass Road to the west of Tuolumne Meadows — perhaps the first place where the terrain really seems to fully feel like “High Sierra” in the sense in which I use the term.

Even in the busy season this lake can be surprisingly quiet at certain times. I made this photograph in the morning, early enough that the shadows were still long, but late enough that the sun had lifted high enough above the surrounding peaks to illuminate the granite slabs and the surface of the lake. A bit of atmospheric haze softened the light a bit, and high clouds passed overhead.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: haze

Autumn Light, Trees and Meadow

Back-lit Trees and Ridges

Morning Above The Meadow

Granite, Forest, and Lake

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