Tag Archives: lake

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Still Water, Clouds

November 14, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A few scattered clouds are reflected in the surface of Mono Lake on a windless day

As I have returned to Mono Lake over the years, my orientation to the place has changed. (I guess that is a sort of general theme with me, now that I think of it — repeated visits to a familiar place over long periods of time are rewarded with a continually evolving knowledge of the place.) First it is just a very big lake. They one usually discovers tufa towers, followed perhaps by birds. My concept of the place has now come to center on quiet immensity, with open sky above, perhaps interrupted by the sounds of birds.

Mono Lake is often a windy place, but at times, especially early in the day, the winds can die down or even stop, and the stillness becomes palpable. On this day I traveled out to a shoreline area I had not visited before, and one that is not particularly popular or well-known. I parked and walked down a slope towards the water, where I found its surface almost still and reflecting the shapes of a few clouds to the north.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mountains and Lake, Autumn Haze

October 21, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hazy autumn light at dawn on Mono Lake and desert mountains about autumn light in California.

I’ve written about the “golden” color, the muted quality, its softness, and otherwise tried to put my finger on what it is. I’ve known, for example, that something special happens to the light in the Sierra from late September onwards. But I’ve never been able to quite put my finger on the nature of the change. Is it the angle of the sun, changing weather, the colors of vegetation, or something else? It finally occurred to me — sometimes I’m slow! — after all these years that this is the wildfire season in the state and that this might be an important factor.

It surely is a factor in this early October photograph of morning light over Mono Lake. I’ve been poking around this area and making photographs for years, moving more and more towards images that are about the gigantic spaces and forms of this remarkable lake and its surroundings. On this morning I had gone to a different location, high above the lake, from which I had an overview of much of the lake and out to the east toward the rising sun as that autumn haze filled the air, muted details of the landscape, and filled the atmosphere with warm, golden light.

For decades I have recognized the obvious, that there is something different and special

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

Photographs: Nature

Wildfire Smoke, Early Morning

October 14, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

layers of thick wildfire smoke obscure the morning light

This was the culmination of more than twelve hours of observation of a developing wildfire located east of the Sierra Nevada, roughly between Lee Vining and Mammoth Lakes. The previous evening I finished a hike into the Sierra backcountry not far from Tioga Pass, returning to my car well after sunset. As I drove back down Lee Vining Canyon in the near-darkness I saw a big tower of smoke to the southeast and the tell-tale glow of fire on the bottom of the cloud. The next morning I woke up and headed straight back toward Mono Lake, from which I figured I could photograph conditions related to the fire.

I began photographing Mono Lake itself, where the lake was still mostly visible with only a few thin smoke clouds floating over it. But very soon this changed as winds brought the smoke right over Mono Lake, casting a pall over the scene all the way up to Conway Summit. My goal was to head south along the eastern escarpment, but as I did so the smoke only became thicker. I made this photograph at a point closer to the fire, where the smoke was very, very thick, enough so to take away most of the sunlight and add a post-apocalyptic quality to the scene.

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Dawn, Desert Mountains, Lake

October 5, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn haze above Mono Lake and desert mountains

Many people perhaps think first of tufa formations when they think of Mono Lake — and given their novel quality and popularity, who can blame them? But as interesting as those formations are, they are not what first comes to mind for me when I think of this place. Instead, my associations are with immense sky, profound silence, perhaps birds, and, of course, wind. Despite being so close to the Sierra, with its intimate forest and meadow landscapes and towering alpine peaks, this place seems much different.

I made this photograph from a high place early on an autumn morning, when haze that may have come from many sources including wildfires, muted and obscured the details of the landscape, leaving mostly the larger features and forms. The foreground is a bit of the lake surface, and beyond the surrounding basin rises toward a succession of high and barren ridges and peaks as the first light makes the atmosphere luminous.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: lake

Still Water, Clouds

Mountains and Lake, Autumn Haze

Wildfire Smoke, Early Morning

Dawn, Desert Mountains, Lake

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