Tag Archives: lembert

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.

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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.

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

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.

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

Morning Above The Meadow

August 17, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

First light comes to ridges and peaks above a subalpine meadow

Nothing was yet open along Tioga Pass Road when I visited in late July. Typically all of the campgrounds would be open by this point, but an exceptionally heavy winter snowfall had delayed the process of clearing the road and opening up the high country. There was still a lot of snow at around 10,000′ and higher, and water was running high and fast everywhere. Early in the morning I drove back into the park from my camp site just east of the crest, heading down to Tuolumne Meadows to make some early morning photographs.

I’m often a bit surprised by how few people who camp at Tuolumne manage to make it out to the meadow for first light, missing what is arguably the most beautiful time of the day. On this day, with the campground closed, there was almost no one else at the meadow — I had the place almost entirely to myself. I stopped at the lower end of the meadow and looked back to the east, across the meadow and then a series of successive ridges, including a couple of well-known domes, and finally to the summit of Mount Dana. The sun had just risen on the east side of the range, and its light was beginning to pour over the ridges of the Sierra crest.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: lembert

The Last Light

Two Domes, Evening

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

Morning Above The Meadow

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