Tag Archives: landscape

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

Evening in a High Place

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Evening in a High Place
Long evenng view across boulder-filled alpine meadows toward distant peaks, Yosemite National Park.

Evening in a High Place. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Long evenng view across boulder-filled alpine meadows toward distant peaks, Yosemite National Park.

This area is one I’ve visited many times — in fact I used to make an annual ritual out of returning. This place and others like it provide a rare and wonderful thing, the opportunity to wander alone, unbounded by trails, across a vast wilderness landscape, going wherever my interest and abilities may take me.

Recently I have had reason to review photographs from over a decade of visits to the Sierra backcountry with a group of fellow photographers (sometimes referred to as the “First Light group) with whom I’ve been fortunate to share many a golden hour. It is hard to be definitive about when this began, but in this case there are some clear markers in the timeline. Shortly before making this photograph back in 2008 I had just descended from a lake in a rocky hanging valley when I encountered a photographer heading in my direction. The photographers was a part of the group, and after Keith and I spoke briefly we each went our separate ways. Mine took me to this area of open meadows and long vistas as the day ended. As such, this might be considered among first photographs to emerge from this association.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Travel

Bavarian Alps at Königssee

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Bavarian Alps at Königssee
Alpine ridges and peaks above the Königssee, Bavaria.

Bavarian Alps at Königssee. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Alpine ridges and peaks above the Königssee, Bavaria.

Today’s photograph ties together several threads — mountain landscapes, travel, and my continuing pandemic survey and reevaluation of older photographic files. This photograph comes from a wonderful trip we took almost a decade ago. Among other things, we all rented a big “farm house” near this location for a week — with a backyard view of the Watzmann massif, the highest peak wholly within Germany. (If I’m correct, the face on the right in this photograph leads up toward that summit.)

We did the tourist thing on this day, taking the electric boats up the Königssee lake to St. Bartholomä, from which we did the hike to the Eiskapelle at the base of a mountain face where fallen snow and ice collects. The photograph is from the boat. Every mountain range seems to have a personality of its own, and here (at least while we were there) the very steep faces, the forest along the lower slopes, the large meadows, the soft light and haze, and the non-granitic rock (which gets the attention of this Sierra guy) seemed to define this range.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

White Pelicans and Geese

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White Pelicans and Geese
White pelicans and geese in the winter landscape of California’s Central Valley.

White Pelicans and Geese. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

White pelicans and geese in the winter landscape of California’s Central Valley.

This flock of white pelicans almost seems like family now — since the beginning of this season they have been hanging out in almost this exact spot every time I have visited. It used to be that I’d catch them in flight in the morning, but more recently they seem to stay right there almost the entire day. While the opportunities to photograph them flying over my position have been limited, this spot is close enough that I can photograph them on the ground… or, more accurately, on the muddy spot where they hang out in the middle of this pond.

The more distant birds are geese, almost certainly snow geese, though it is a bit difficult to make a 100% certain identification from this distance. Large groups of them were on the ground beyond the middle distance levee, and they were periodically taking off or being joined by new arrivals on this mostly-sunny morning.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Bluffs, Surf, and Haze

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Bluffs, Surf, and Haze
Thin fog obscures distant views beyond coastal bluffs and waves along the Pacific Coast of California.

Bluffs, Surf, and Haze. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thin fog obscures distant views beyond coastal bluffs and waves along the Pacific Coast of California.

The scenes like this one that I photograph, visit and revisit… the more clear is the contrast between their timeless nature and the way we live our lives. This photograph comes from over almost a decade ago — which either feels like a very short time or a very long time right now — but it could have come from virtually any time in the past. There’s nothing obvious in it to link to any particular time.

The scene likely feels familiar to anyone who lives near or visits locations where coastal flatlands run up against the edge of the continent. The sea eventually wins the inevitable battle, and in the process produces a stark contrast between gentle, flat bluffs and the cliffs at their edges, which drop precipitously into the ocean and leave behind sea stacks and small islands. On this evening the sea was rather quiet and a thin fog was beginning to obscure distant views.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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