Tag Archives: monochrome

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

Old Tree, Snow Flurries

March 24, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Snow flurries begin around an old tree, Yosemite Valley

In the latter part of February I was very fortunate to be able to spend a full week in Yosemite National Park, mostly photographing in the Valley. (Thank you to Yosemite Renaissance for sponsoring my stay.) It was a cold week with a fair amount of snowy days — no heavy snow, but with the cold it fell all the way down to the elevation of the Valley and even lower nearby.

Late on this afternoon I had finished up some earlier projects and I was casting about for a final subject before the light faded. Since I was in this area I went to where I knew I could find this magnificent old tree, along with some other smaller trees growing along the Merced River. On this very cold afternoon the scene was quite gray, with clouds above and light snow beginning to fall, muting the details of the background forest and almost completely hiding the granite walls of the Valley.

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

Trees, Meadow, Snow Storm

March 13, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Snow falls on a tree-studded Yosemite Valley meadow

I made this photograph as a snow squall swept through this part of Yosemite Valley, on an afternoon that featured changeable weather. It was often cloudy, sometimes the sun broke through, at other times snow fell heavily for short periods. It was during one of those latter moments when I stopped here, entranced by the silhouetted tree shapes and the moodiness of the snow-obscured landscape.

Snow and fog (and to some extent rain) can make the task of photography more difficult, but the visual value they bring mac the challenges worthwhile. A location like this one can be almost too dense with complex detail when the air is completely clear, but some fog or snow mute the distant details and simplify the scene in useful ways. Here the dark shapes of the closer trees acquire a stronger (and more abstract) presence in the scene, and the distant features that would otherwise be visible fade to obscurity and instead provide a sort of depth to the scene. I made a practical decision, too, when photographing this scene. Because of the challenging conditions of windblown snow, rather than putting my bigger camera on the tripod I shot handheld with a smaller system I was also carrying.

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

Forest, After Snow

March 11, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Densely intertwining forest trees after a Yosemite Valley snow storm

My previous day in Yosemite Valley had drawn to a close as snow showers dropped a few inches of snow. A blustery and cold little weather front had arrived, bringing showers — the sort of weather than gives you a few minutes of impressive snowfall, followed moments later by the light breaking through. On my way out of the Valley — I was staying up at Wawona — I had stopped to photograph it before starting that snowy drive back to my cabin.

I suspected that the weather would clear the next morning and that bright light and new-fallen snow could turn out to be my subject. My first thought had been to head for Tunnel View, not usually my first choice for Yosemite Valley photography at this point, but potentially very beautiful in these conditions. But when I arrived there the completely clear skies produced a rather mundane sort of scene, at least by comparison to what I had hoped for. (I know… that view is never actually “mundane,” but I’m more likely to photograph it when something really special happens these days.) But further down in the Valley I passed an area of skeletal trees, mostly without leaves or needles, that still held snow and was back-lit. The location was about as non-iconic as you can find in the Valley, but I stopped and wandered off into this forest scene to photograph the patters of branches, trunks, and snow.

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

Meadow, Forest, Evening Light

March 6, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Soft evening light and haze illuminate a meadow clearing with silhouetted trees

It was late on a clear winter day, and I found myself in Yosemite Valley, in an area of trees and meadows. My first objective was group of riverside trees that were catching the early evening light coming up the Valley from the west. Soon the cliffs along the north side of the Valley cast shadows across these trees, so I moved on, following the shadow-sun line to the southwest as I crossed meadows.

Ahead a row of trees cut across the meadow along the route of a trail. A management fire was burned a bit to the west — incinerating trees that died in the drought of the past few years — and the smoke drifted, producing a gentle haze in the evening light. I found a break in the trees, with a meadow and back-lit trees on the far side, and above more trees fading into the haze toward faint cliff silhouettes. I made a quick series of exposures, and then then light was gone.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: monochrome

Old Tree, Snow Flurries

Trees, Meadow, Snow Storm

Forest, After Snow

Meadow, Forest, Evening Light

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