Tag Archives: high

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Lake, Mirrored Reflection

Image August 12, 2026 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

There’s a story and a lesson associated with this photograph. Explaining may take a bit more than the usual two paragraphs. (It takes five. I urge/invite you to click through and read the whole thing — and I’ll be interested in your comments.) I’ll start with the subject though. Years ago (I’ll reveal how many years below) I was on a trans-Sierra pack trip of over a week’s length with a group of backcountry friends. I had walked this route years before this trip, and there were a few places that I specifically wanted to photograph again, especially this lake. I stopped there long enough to make a few careful photographs, including one of my favorites. (That one also comes with a bit of a story and lesson.)

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Zion High Country, Evening

Image February 18, 2026 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I made this photograph very close to the end of a lengthy photography trip to Southern Utah. After shooting on my own for days and then working collaboratively with friends and fellow photographers, I left the others behind and joined my family for a few days in Zion National Park.

We stayed outside of the park boundary, a short distance up a side road that leads way back into the park’s less-known high country. We decided to follow that road and see where it would take us. Eventually it arrived at a sort of plateau — high country ringed by red rock formations and cut through by deep valleys. I made this photograph close to sunset along that road.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Cathedral Range

Image January 27, 2026 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This was the scene late in the day during my early July visit to the High Sierra near Tuolumne Meadows and just east of Yosemite National Park. In the right light, this can be my favorite time of day — the sun Is nearing the horizon and the light is softening and turning golden, and shadows stretch across the landscape. I made the photograph next to a high country meadow that opens to a view of the distant Cathedral Range.

The Cathedral Range has a unique personality. It is not on the Sierra Crest, but instead runs more or less northwest to southeast between the the Tuolumne and Merced Rivers. It rises from mostly forested country to culminate in open granite terrain, with some summits that escaped glaciation and are rugged and steep.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

View From A High Place

Image January 13, 2026 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Elsewhere in California on this early winter day the skies were cloudy and rain was in the air. But in Death Valley the skies were (partly) blue and the temperatures were comfortable. We had a little extra time between stops so we headed up to this popular little canyon late in the day. On the way back down we came across this place where the dark canyon opened in the bright valley.

There is a lot of “Death Valley stuff” in this photograph. The distant playa is just above sea level, and in places is covered by impressive sand dunes. The distant desert mountains tower thousands of feet above the lowlands. Because there is little to no vegetation on them, their geology is laid bare. The dark foreground walls are near the opening at the bottom of a grand desert wash.