Tag Archives: john muir

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Early Autumn Color, Lake and Mountain

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Early Autumn Color, Lake and Mountain
Early autumn color along the shore of a Sierra Nevada alpine lake

Early Autumn Color, Lake and Mountain. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early autumn color along the shore of a Sierra Nevada alpine lake

One of the pleasures of photographing from a backcountry base camp is that I can roll out of my sleeping bag and climb out of the tent… and start photographing almost at my doorstep. We camped near this lake for a full week, and on several mornings and evenings I explored it, gradually pushing out my boundaries, traveling a bit further along and beyond its shoreline, and getting to know it in different light at various times of day.

I made this photograph on one of those morning walks, when I set out slowly towards the far opposite end of the lake near its outlet stream. I was in no hurry, taking time to observe and photograph as I walked. Eventually I made it to that further point, photographed a bit there, and turned around to start back toward camp, continuing to photograph. The lake remained in the shadow of the tall ridge to the left long after sunrise, and as I walked back the first beams of light reached the shoreline. In this photograph a lakeside willow bush is catching some of that first light.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Talus, Cliff, Shoreline

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Talus, Cliff, Shoreline
A talus field of giant boulders tumbles to the edge of an alpine lake at the foot of a cliff

Talus, Cliff, Shoreline. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A talus field of giant boulders tumbles to the edge of an alpine lake at the foot of a cliff

There are multiple ways to look at this photograph. One is to think of it as a record of a specific place at a particular time. That is perhaps important to me and to the others with whom I shared this week in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, but I think it is far less important to others who may view it. Another way to view it is as an example of a particular kind of landscape — the subalpine terrain of the eastern slope of this mountain range — and to note the cliff face at the left, the base of the talus field that reaches to the shoreline, and the lake itself. Sierra travelers probably have their own collection of memories of similar places.

A third way to view it is to try to step back from the seeming objective reality of location and subject, and to try to look at it as a structure of colors and forms and textures. This isn’t always easy, and it perhaps it isn’t for every viewer… though the elements mirrored in the reflective surface of the lake may encourage a viewer to try. In fact, this gets a little closer to how I see such things and such places. Yes, I do respond to them a real locations and as examples of the Sierra terrain I love. However, in most cases that isn’t enough for a photograph, at least not to me. I’m always looking for shape and texture and color and relationships in these subjects. (Of the recent photographs of talus slopes, water, and soft light, this may be my current favorite.)

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

From Shore to Shore

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From Shore to Shore
Both shorelines of a rock-bound alpine lake

From Shore to Shore. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Both shorelines of a rock-bound alpine lake

The Sierra Nevada is sometimes called the Range of Light, in recognition of (or so I think) the open quality of its forests, the tendency toward summer sunshine, and the resulting abundant light. It is a very different place than, say, the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. There are day-to-day exceptions to the rule, but overall the characterization holds. As a matter of fact, on our mid-to-late September backcountry visit this year we experienced an unbroken string of perfect blue sky days for over a week. (By the way, photographers don’t necessarily regard that as a good thing!)

However, it is quite possible to experience different sorts of light in these mountains. Obviously, anyone who has experienced a major winter storm in the Sierra has seen the other end of this spectrum. Thunderstorms do sweep through in the summer months. And in some places where the mountains are close, tall, and very steep there can be lengthy “blue hour light” at the start and end of the day. I made this photograph in such a place, where the sun didn’t arrive until many hours after sunrise, and the shadows returned hours before sunset. In this light, the rocky terrain around this lake took on an appearance that doesn’t fit with that “range of light” description.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Grasses, Water, Talus

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Grasses, Water, Talus
Talus from a glacial moraine reaches the edge of a reflective alpine lake with a shoreline patch of grass

Grasses, Water, Talus. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Talus from a glacial moraine reaches the edge of a reflective alpine lake with a shoreline patch of grass

This is (yet another) photograph from my September backcountry sojourn in the John Muir Wilderness, accompanied by a group of four friends and photographers who try to do this every year. We packed in to a lake a few miles from the trailhead, set up camp, and proceeded to work the surrounding landscape for the next week, starting early and finishing late almost every day. In the course of the week we thoroughly explored the surroundings within a few miles radius of our camp.

The far edge of the lake near our camp was completely rocky and almost entirely devoid of flora. (Our side did features a meadow and some stunted trees.) A tremendous talus field, distorted by glacial action, rose straight up from the lake shore to the surrounding ridges. I photographed this material several times during our stay, most often working in the early morning before the direct sunlight arrived. In many of the photographs there is nothing by rocks and water, but in this one I included a bit of the colorful shoreline grass.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook |
Email

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