Tag Archives: lake

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Mountains, Alpine Tarn, Dark Clouds

September 15, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dark clouds assemble behind a ridge over a tarn nestled in an alpine meadow

I first visited this area a number of years ago — I think it may have been a dozen years now. I was on a fast and light trip with a buddy, carrying an ultra-light load and sleeping in a bivy sack. We entered this general area and went straight to a lake close to timberline where we made a base camp and went on to further explore the upper reaches of this basin. This return trip was different in many ways, but perhaps most of all in its almost exclusive focus on photography. We stopped at a lower lake and set up a camp, hidden in trees on top of a moraine, and there we would remain for more than a week, wandering out each day to look for photographic subjects. I soon discovered that I had missed a true gem on that earlier visit.

On the first full day of this recent trip we left our campsite and, in small groups, ascended the rocky moraine through small trees to reach a little use trail. We followed that upwards, still in forest. But then there were breaks in the forest cover and suddenly a large meadow covered the rounded hills at the top of an old glacially sculpted where a lake had likely once filled a shallow valley. (A small tarn is all that remains today.) Whatever your fantasy of a mountain meadow might be, the first sight of this scene exceeded it. The grasses were still green, even though it was near the end of August. Wildflowers in a rainbow of colors were sprinkled throughout the meadow. Peaks rose on three sides, and on the fourth side there was a deep valley with even higher peaks beyond. I returned to this spot many times — probably once a day for the next week — and I made this photograph a few days later, in the early evening as low angle light slanted across the meadow and distant peaks and dark thunder clouds began to gather in the further distance.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Flowers, Trees, and Mountains

September 10, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A stream winds through a tree and flower-filled meadow holding a subalpine lake, with distant peaks, John Muir Wilderness

And, yes, yet another photograph from our end-of-August-start-of-September trip into the John Muir Wilderness backcountry, during which we spent more than a week photographing some very spectacular scenery and hanging out with a fine group of fellow photographers. Our camp was located on a moraine near the site of this photograph — a high spot with some visibility to a larger panorama, but also somewhat hidden from others who might pass by.

Below our camp was this meadow and the lake beyond. The conditions were very special — for the end of August and beginning of September the meadow was still very lush and green and the wildflowers were still thriving. There were all kinds of flowers in the meadow, but this photograph mostly features paintbrush flowers and plants.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Trail, and Wildflowers

September 8, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A use trail passes through a wildflower-filled meadow in the John Muir Wilderness on a late summer evening

We became very familiar with this little section of unofficial “use trail” near our base camp for our recent sojourn into the John Muir Wilderness of the Sierra Nevada range. Our camp was relatively hidden among trees up on the top of a nearby moraine ridge, but these meadows became a second home to us for over a week. I first used this trail when I arrived on our first day, following behind the rest of the group who had arrived a bit earlier. Near the outlet stream of the lake seen in the distance in the photograph, I turned right and headed up along its shoreline, following this path. It was only after passing the lake and starting to climb that I began to wonder if I was now past our camp — and, yes, I had to backtrack.

There were many places worthy of exploration all around out camp. Some were further away — a higher open meadow, a rocky ridge, narrow meadows full of flowers. But the areas around “our” lake drew us back, and many of us visited them every day at some point. On this evening I set out to simply wander the meadow and see what I could find, and I decided that including the trail in the scene made a lot of sense. Also of note, the meadow was still wet and green and wildflowers were everywhere — even though it was the very end of the month of August, well past the time when the flowers typically die back and the meadow grass turns golden.

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Trees, Volcanic Slopes

August 30, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunrise light on trees ascending the side of a volcanic cone, east of the Sierra Nevada

I frequently photograph in the Mono Basin, at and around Mono Lake. I have been photographing there long enough that I’ve learned to look beyond the famous tufa formations — worthy photographic subjects that they area — and try to find other elements that also are intrinsic to the character of the place. The lake itself is one subject — its huge expanse, the immense quiet and stillness often found there, the birds, and the sky. The surrounding terrain is also very interesting once you spend some time looking away from the lake: the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, gentle terrain rising to eastward mountains, ponderosa pine forests, and more.

Many years ago I became intrigued by these trees that grow a good distance up the sides of the volcanic domes rising just south of the lake. At certain times the light bathes them in color and can turn a normally drab scene into something quite striking. ON this morning the sun had just risen into hazy skies, and there was a great deal of red in the light, contrasting with the very blue color of the shadows.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: lake

Mountains, Alpine Tarn, Dark Clouds

Meadow, Flowers, Trees, and Mountains

Meadow, Trail, and Wildflowers

Trees, Volcanic Slopes

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