Tag Archives: morning

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Dunes, First Light

April 6, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

First light on Death Valley sand dunes

No matter how many times I experience it — and I’ve experienced it a lot! — the instant when the first sunlight suffuses the landscape is always magical. Invariably, it sneaks up on me, even though I plan to be there for it and have probably calculated the precise time of the light’s arrival. Perhaps it is because I’m engaged in photographing the pre-sunrise light, a phenomenon that also is transitory. To this day, it still somehow surprises me when this light arrives in complete silence and stillness. Somehow it seems like there should be music or a rising wind… but it is just the light.

Sand dunes provide unending possibilities for photography, and they are a remarkable canvas on which the light can paint. In the middle of the day this sand would be a sort of bland off-white color. But for a few moments at the start and end of the day the sand takes on almost gaudy colors of sky and sunlight, and the soft shadows both emphasize the forms of the dunes and produce their own shapes and lines. Non-photographers probably wonder how we can force ourselves out of bed a couple hours before dawn and drive or hike long distances the pre-dawn darkness. We wonder how the rest of the world can sleep through it!

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

Cliff in Sun, Trees In Shadow

March 22, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The edge of a granite face caught in morning sun, with snow-covered trees in shadow

The little bit of sunlit granite cliff on the right side of this photograph has long intrigued me. When the light hits it a highlight is added to a scene that is often otherwise almost completely in shadow. The light only happens for a short period, since the sun has to rise above the thousands-of-feet-high cliff above and then find its way down at just the right angle. Basically, it is only going to happen in the morning at this time of year, and for a short time at that. On this day I photographed it just after new snow had fallen the night before, coating trees and granite with a thin layer of snow.

The color of this scene is perhaps also worth mentioning. I decided to “go with the blue” on this image. Deeply shaded areas that are illuminated by open sky are often far bluer than we might think, something that photographers soon learn to recognize. When we look at such a scene with our eyes and our brains visual processing system, our brain tells us that, for example, the snow in this scene is white. But objectively speaking it is very much NOT white — it is the blue of the sky. In many cases photographers — including me — will adjust the color of the blue shadows in post to make them a bit closer to how we recall the scene, but another option is to leave it just as blue as it actually is… which is what I’ve done here.

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

Morning, Fresh Snow

March 15, 2018 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

The previous night’s new snow covers the trees of this conifer forest

This is another photograph from my recent week in Yosemite Valley in late February — and a cold and snowy week it was! But that was good news during a winter that had previously bene characterized by nearly a month of no precipitation and by well above-average temperatures. Yosemite Valley is always more picturesque after (or during) snow, but the climatological backdrop made this even more true this year.

I drove down into the Valley on this morning after snowfall the night before. There wasn’t a lot of snow — perhaps 4-5 inches where I had stayed overnight and no more than an inch or two in most of the Valley. But in many ways that was just about the perfect amount. On this very cold morning the snow stayed in the trees, and the thin layer still allowed the darker colors and shapes of the branches and tree trunks to be visible. As I came to this spot I noticed that the snow-lined trees were back-lit, so I stopped, wandered into the forest, and photographed… and before long the sun passed behind the upper edges of high cliffs, the area was in shade, and the opportunity was gone.

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

Morning Light, After Snow

March 9, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Light snow on forest trees and granite faces, following winter snow

On most days I’m convinced that there is no season more beautiful in Yosemite Valley than winter, and no day in the Valley more beautiful than one following snowfall, when the sun comes out again, snow blankets the trees, and a bit of remaining mist floats among the spires. (OK, on an autumn day I may give more credit to fall colors, and on a spring day I may acknowledge new growth and wildflowers. But still.)

I was fortunate that it snowed on several days during my recent artist-in-residence stint in the Valley. (Thank you, Yosemite Renaissance.) It did not snow a lot, but it was unusually cold and snow fell all the way to the valley floor, with an accumulation in some spots of a few inches. Because it was so cold the snow did not immediately melt (as it often does at this elevation) or fall from the trees. In this photograph, across the open space of a meadow, you can still see snow in the trees, and it gets thicker as the trees ascend the south side of the Valley.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: morning

Dunes, First Light

Cliff in Sun, Trees In Shadow

Morning, Fresh Snow

Morning Light, After Snow

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