Tag Archives: hills

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Lee Vining Canyon and Mono Craters, Morning

July 16, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning clouds and haze over Mono Craters, as seen from the upper elevation of Lee Vining Canyon.

East of Tioga Pass, highway 120 (a.k.a. “Tioga Pass Road”) descends relatively gently past Tioga Lake and then Ellery Lake before it drop precipitously down the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada through Lee Vining Canyon on its way to the junction with highway 395 just south of the town of Lee Vining. I’ve driven over it for years, going back and forth between my home in the San Francisco Bay Area and the east side of the Sierra, so I should be fairly nonchalant about it by now – but every so often as I pass over the route (most often looking down into the canyon from above) I wonder whatever possessed people to think that it would be a good idea to route a road across the talus fields and across the steep headway of this canyon.

During last week’s photographic trip to the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite National Park I went over the pass twice. The first time was to scout out some possible shooting locations around Mono Lake – OK, and to get an espresso at Latte Da in Lee Vining – and the second was the following morning when I returned to shoot one of these locations. The night before I had moved my camp to Ellery Lake (it is a long story), which put me a bit closer to Mono Lake, so I was up well before dawn and at the lake before sunrise. After photographing my primary subject there right at dawn, I stuck around long enough to photograph the early morning light and haze above the lake, then headed back to break up my camp before heading home. As I crossed that headwall high up above Lee Vining Canyon, I looked east toward the Mono Craters. Looking that way is pretty much a habit, but I rarely find it to present anything that I want to photograph. This morning was different. I quickly found a turn-out and drove back to this spot. A nice haze filled the air (I like atmospheric haze for photography!), a few clouds clustered around ridges just beyond the volcanic Mono Craters, and a high line of clouds from monsoonal flow were in the far distance, with the steep walls of Lee Vining Canyon backlit and almost seen entirely in silhouette.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Iris Blossom, Japanese Garden

July 6, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A new iris blossom emerges against a background of summer greenery.

I was in Portland, Oregon during the past week on a family visit. I’ve been to and through Portland before, but this was the first time I have been able to stay there for a substantial amount of time. Although this was not primarily a photographic trip – I didn’t even carry a tripod! – I did keep a camera with me, and I had some opportunities to do some informal photography while getting to know the place. I also had a chance to find out just how much of a garden city Portland is. During five days in the city I think we visited at least that many gardens, ranging from formal rose gardens (for which the city is famous), small and informal gardens, several Japanese and Chinese gardens, gardens around homes and historic buildings, and more.

I made this photograph of what I’m pretty certain is an iris (I’m actually very bad at plant identification…) while walking around one such garden. Shooting in shade on an overcast afternoon, the light was close to the limit of what I would want to try to shoot handheld, but I crouched down low and I think I managed to make it work. I like the slightly curving shape of the stem, with its partially unwrapped sections, and the flower itself illuminated by soft light from the sky.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Shoreline Fences, San Francisco Bay

May 6, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Shoreline fences along the edge of the San Francisco Bay with moored boats and, in the distance, the Oakland shoreline and East Bay hills.

This photograph was made from a spot that many San Francisco Giants fans know rather well – the Third Street Bridge that is right next to AT&T Park. There were few Giants fans around when I made this photograph though, since it was quite early in he morning on a weekday. The camera is pointing almost but not quite directly into the early morning sun, which shines through a luminous morning haze over the bay on a very still morning.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Green Hills, Rose Light

April 28, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Subtle colors illuminate a ridge top and sunset clouds in the Sierra Nevada foothills, California.

This is yet another virtual “happy accident” photograph. I posted a different version of it earlier, but it may have been long enough that I can tell the story again. I had been in Yosemite Valley and surrounding areas for the day, and late in the afternoon I left The Valley to head into Merced Canyon where the redbud and California Golden Poppies were blooming. The plan was to get into the canyon while there was still sun in the sky but at a time when lengthening shadows would bring some soft light to various deeper/steeper sections of the canyon. So I shot there until a bit less than an hour before sunset and then decided to head on home, starting the long drive back to the San Francisco Bay Area.

I headed down the canyon, still unable to completely stop looking at the newly green grasses, the plants that were starting to leaf out, and the profusion of purple redbud blossoms and bright orange California Poppies spreading up some of the steep hillsides. But as beautiful as much of this was, I wasn’t seeing photographs in it, so I continued on. Soon I reached Briceburg, where the road leaves the Merced and climbs steeply as it heads toward Mariposa. Climbing this steep section I continued to glance back over my shoulder at the green, chaparral-coverd ridges behind me and the clouds above them that were beginning to pick up a bit of sunset color. As I neared the top of the climb I almost kept going – doing the internal debate between it might make an interesting photograph and I’m hungry and I want to start home! – I passed a photographer set up beside the road, and I quickly recognized him as a friend. Now I had no choice but to stop, so I did a u-turn at the first turnout and headed back down the hill to where he and his wife were. I grabbed my gear, said “hi” as I set up, and figured that I might as well make a few final exposures of the delicately colored sky and the subtle tones that the last light imparted to the upper ridges.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: hills

Lee Vining Canyon and Mono Craters, Morning

Iris Blossom, Japanese Garden

Shoreline Fences, San Francisco Bay

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