Tag Archives: mattie

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

Trees, Blood-Red Sunset Light

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Trees, Blood-Red Sunset Light
Intensely red light on granite slabs and trees in the Yosemite National Park backcountry.

Trees, Blood-Red Sunset Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Intensely red light on granite slabs and trees in the Yosemite National Park backcountry.

This is the third and final in this short sequence of photographs from this late summer evening in the Yosemite backcountry. I had passed over the summit of a granite dome just before sunset and was descending granite slabs along the drop-off into a large canyon, heading back toward camp, as the sunset light became intensely red.

The intense color was largely the result of the not-so-great air quality to the west of here. September and October are traditionally the wildfire season in California, and the atmosphere is often softened by a sort of general haze at this time of year. In addition, because I was in a location where I had a direct line of sight to the horizon across the Great Central Valley, the light was passing through more of this hazy atmosphere than usual. The result was light with a color intensity that might seem almost unbelievable — but I guarantee that it was real.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Exfoliation

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Exfoliation
Granite slabs littered with exfoliated boulders, Yosemite Naitonal Park.

Exfoliation. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Granite slabs littered with exfoliated boulders, Yosemite Naitonal Park.

As is our pattern in the backcountry, by late afternoon each of photographers in our group had “headed out” find subjects to photograph in late-day light. There was a lot to work with in the area surrounding the lake where we were camped; low ridges, the shoreline of the lake, forest, meadow with boulders, granite slabs, and even actual mountains if you walked far enough.

I decided to wander to the other side of our lake, where a granite dome rise above the water… and dropped of precipitously into a gigantic canyon on the other side. I decided that I would approach from one side, cross the summit close to sunset, and then return to camp by descending a ridge on the other side. The angle of the light was quite low as I crossed granite slabs to a low spot between the dome and another low hill, and the slabs were covered with boulders that appeared to be remnants of the process of exfoliation.

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Granite Shoreline, Sunset Peak

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Granite Shoreline, Sunset Peak
Granite Shoreline, Sunset Peak

Granite Shoreline, Sunset Peak. Yosemite National Park, California. September 3, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The last sunset light shines on a granite peak above granite outcroppings along a forest-lined subalpine lake, Yosemite National Park

On the day after a long hike to our destination at a high subalpine lake, where we set up camp and settled in for a longish stay, we had gotten up on this morning and started the work of photographing here. The day began early, before sunrise, as we made our first get-acquainted photographs along the shoreline of the lake and then continued to photograph in to the morning hours. As is typical, we returned to camp once the beautiful morning light was replaced by the less compelling light of midday, where we enjoyed the camp rituals of sitting around and talking, sharing meals, taking care of camp chores, and formulating plans for evening photography. After (a very early) dinner, the late afternoon light was about to become interesting, and it was time to head out once again.

As is usually the case (and almost the necessity) among landscape photographers, we each mostly worked alone — though we also encountered one another at times as we wandered the area. We continued shooting as late afternoon turned toward early evening, with shadows lengthening and the color of the light warming. A few benign clouds appeared above nearby ridges as I photographed in quiet forested areas along the lake. The sun dropped toward the horizon, deepening the shadows where I was working, so I moved to a more open area where I could see a small granite peninsula, lakeside trees, and unnamed peaks on the ridge to the east as the last sun touched their summits and the light reflected on the lake’s surface. I made a few final photographs, the light faded, and I walked back towards camp in the evening quiet as darkness arrived.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Peninsula, Trees, Evening Light

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Peninsula, Trees, Evening Light
Peninsula, Trees, Evening Light

Peninsula, Trees, Evening Light. Yosemite National Park, California. September 3, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light comes to a tree-dotted peninsula on a subalpine lake, Yosemite National Park

A subalpine Sierra Nevada lake like this one, where I photographed over the course of six days in September, is both a comforting source of familiarity and an opportunity to seek and discover new things. Anyone who has spent much time in the Sierra back county is familiar with lakes like this one. It is set in a very shallow bowl between higher ridges in most directions, a low and rock ridge in another, and a forested valley holding its outlet stream. This one is entirely surrounded by forest, dense and growing right to the shoreline in places, and sparse and rocky in others. A walk around the lake — and I made quite a few of these walks! — reveals marshy sections, places steep and rocky enough to make passage challenging, rocky outcroppings, views through trees, small granite islands, and more.

These walks almost inevitably brought us to the far end of the lake, near the marshy outlet, where this granite peninsula extends into the lake and supports ground cover and a few isolated trees. As we explored and photographed individually, it was not unusual for us to run into one another in this spot where there are so many interesting possibilities. The peninsula was a bit of an enigma for me. Its visual appeal was immediate — the individual trees standing in the light, the granite rocks, the open views of surrounding terrain, and its path away from the shore and out into the lake. But once there, I discovered that it was not as easy to photograph as I might have expected! Despite its obvious appeal, there were challenges — how to find an effective background, getting just the right light, and placing the individual components of the scene into a pleasing composition. On this evening I shot with a wide-angle lens and decided to work the curving shoreline that faced the late-day light.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.