Tag Archives: lembert

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

Sunset Storm Light

Image July 22, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Clearing storm clouds at a final wash of sunset color above the Sierra crest near Tuolumne Meadows

This is another photograph from my mid-July evening of miracle light — or, more accurately, my five minutes of miracle light! As I wrote earlier, I had ascended this high point in the Tuolumne Meadows area on an evening when the light was about as “blah” as it gets. There were weak thunderstorms floating around over the crest, but they were more gray and flat that electrical and exciting. And the cloud shield extended a good distance to the west, which meant that no western light was making its way in to live up the scene. But there I was, on top of a high and spectacular place with a remarkable panoramic view, so I was starting to settle in to simply enjoy the experience and perhaps not make photographs.

But… sometimes boring conditions can actual be precursors to sudden changes and even very special conditions. On overcast mountain evenings (and mornings) there may be a distant break in the clouds near the horizon, and if the setting (rising) sun passes through that space at the right moment a sudden beam of colorful light may illuminate the landscape with golden hour or pinkish light. I felt that the odds weren’t with me on this evening, but I hadn’t written off the possibility entirely either, and I kept my gear at hand just in case. Perhaps five minutes before sunset the first pink light appeared to the north on distant clouds and then began to faintly glow on the closer domes. Within in seconds the scene went from gray and flat light to this marvel of warm reddish tones. I photographed rapidly for perhaps five minutes or less… and then it was gone.

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

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

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

The Last Light

July 15, 2018 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A final and unexpected bit of sunset color over the Sierra Nevada crest at Tuolumne Meadows

I could probably write a chapter on topics related to this photograph and the circumstances of making it. But I promise to keep this to a couple of paragraphs… at least for now. Earlier on this day I thought that I might make an evening visit to this high point in the Tuolumne Meadows area. As I ascended the conditions were far from promising — thunderstorms and light rain were falling to the east and the cloud shield extended far enough west to cut off the light. It was one of those occasions when I was ready to simply enjoy being in the place and perhaps not bother to photograph. There was one other photographer in this location and since there wasn’t much to photograph we spend some time in casual conversation, largely about the less than exciting light. There was a lighter area far to the west, but it appeared to be too far north of the setting sun to send much light our direction.

As we talked I mentioned a specific condition that can quickly (and often quite briefly) turn very boring light into something miraculous. If the cloud shield ends far to the west (or in the east at sunrise) there may be a narrow gap between the edge of the clouds and the horizon. If so, as the sun nears the horizon there can be a short burst of intensely colorful light. Any time I’m in a situation like the one on this evening, I look for signs of that horizon light… and if they are present I stay. That’s what I did on this evening, and I set up my camera with a lens selected for my guess at what the scene might do. With 5-10 minutes to go before sunset the sky was still murky and gray, and it appeared that my patience might not be rewarded. Then I noticed some pink in clouds far to the north. In a matter of second a soft reddish glow appeared at the summit of the large granite dome, and almost instantly the light came up on the peaks as a beam passed across the forest in the foreground. For the next 3-5 minutes the entire scene was a miracle of colorful light… until the sun dropped below the horizon and the red was gone.

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

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

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

Two Domes, Evening

September 1, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light on granite domes, meadows, and forest, Yosemite National Park

As always when staying in and around Tuolumne Meadows — though this time I had to drive in from a more distant campground — I was out in the meadows as evening approached. The campground was still closed due to late-melting winter snows, so there were even fewer than usual people out enjoying the late-day light and benign clouds floating overhead.

As I walked through the meadow I enjoyed the constantly changing landscape and patterns of clouds and sunlight moved across the forest, meadow, and mountains. From moment to moment the light changed significantly enough to almost create new landscapes. At the moment of this photograph the main subject was actually darkened a bit by the shadow of a passing cloud — perhaps giving it a more ominous appearance — but the light was bright on the smaller, more distant dome and on the meadow and forest at the base of the dome.

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

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

August 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on Lembert Dome and the forest and grasses of Tuolumne Meadow

The prior day was one of thick wildfire smoke, coming mainly from a fire on the far side of the park near Wawona, but also with contributions from various others fires including some small, managed lightening fires. The effect was not good — the smoke here was as thick as I’ve ever seen it before, including during a late summer visit to Cathedral Lakes a few years back during the height of the drought, when at times it seemed like the entire Sierra was on fire. In any case, the evening before I made this photograph it was still very smokey, and I wondered what the next morning would bring.

As usual, I woke up before sunrise. I was tempted to stay in the warm sleeping bag a while longer, but I summoned the focus to look outside. Noting that I could see blue sky, I got up fairly quickly and left the tent, heading down to the meadow. There was still just a bit of residual smoke hanging around, and there was also a shallow layer of light ground fog. All of this produces some very interesting atmosphere and light as I wandered the meadow, walking between grassy areas and encroaching bits of forest. I paused here, positions myself so that the large trees at the right would block the direct sun, and I made a few photographs including all of the elements of this landscape except the river that passed by out of sight.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: lembert

Sunset Storm Light

The Last Light

Two Domes, Evening

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

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