Tag Archives: morning

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

Trees, Ridge, Morning Haze

August 2, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Trees stand in morning light along a glaciated granite ridge, Yosemite National Park.

Many things characterize the unique personality of the Yosemite National Park high country, but for me the glaciated granite slabs and domes are the primary defining features. You can find them elsewhere, but here they seem to be almost everywhere you look. They include areas of pure rock, sometimes almost without fractures and with almost nothing growing. More typical though are scenes like this one, where the granite is fractured, sculpted by ice, littered with erratics, and interspersed with trees and plants that have managed to find a way to live on what seems like bare rock.

On the final morning of a recent visit to the park, before I had to break camp and head home, I went out looking for ridges like this one, topped with trees and photographed in the back light of the morning sun. Beyond the ridge and trees lies the upper end of one of the great canyons of the park, carrying a stream that eventually arrives in Yosemite 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

Forest, Granite Ridges

July 30, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light and thin forest along granite ridges, Yosemite National Park

This is to be a summer of travel, and a great deal of it will take me a long ways from my Sierra Nevada mountains — to other wonderful places, but not places that are wild and natural. (At least not until September, when my visits to the Sierra will recommence.) So I managed to get up into the Yosemite high country for four days in mid-July to do some photography… and breathing!

On the last morning, before returning to break camp, I headed out early to look for subjects in morning light. In fact, I had been watching this particular area and had in mind to photograph these trees, growing on an old glaciated granite ridge, against the background of more distant, haze-muted, ridges. Once I got there it was a bonus to notice the diagonal shadows of the distant trees.

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

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Tufa, Sky, Passing Birds

July 21, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small flock of birds flies above tufa towers and the vast expanse of Mono Lake beneath summer morning sky

It is easy to think of the tufa towers and being the iconic features of Mono Lake, and arguably they perhaps are. They are certainly the destination for many visitors to the lake, and I have often been to them before dawn to photograph the first light striking their forms. A small group of the towers are included in this photograph, too, though I don’t feel that they are necessarily the predominant feature here.

When I think of Mono Lake, other things come to mind before the tufas. One of the first associations is the immense space encompassed by the lake itself, the larger basin that contains it, and the huge expanse of sky overhead. Very close to that are two related non-visual associations — a great stillness (interrupted only perhaps by a few birds) and a profound silence. For me, this is a place to approach quietly and without hurry.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Wetlands, Morning Fog

July 13, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning fog clears from Sacramento Valley wetlands on a winter morning

I love these winter mornings out in California’s Great Central Valley — cold, damp, perhaps foggy or perhaps clear, with the sights and sounds of migratory birds all around. This was my first visit to this wildlife refuge up in the Sacramento Valley, and I was in exploration mode on this visit, trying to get my bearings and begin to understand the rhythms of the place. It was a mostly clear morning, with high clouds from Pacific Ocean weather above and pockets of tule fog below.

It is easy to imagine that the wildlife refuges are wild places, someone along the lines of small wilderness areas. But the truth is more complex, at least at the refuges I’m familiar with. They are actually managed landscapes, with water levels carefully controlled to support various kinds of wildlife and even the growth of plants managed for their benefit. Those beautiful foreground curves of stubble in the water are the result of management — over the course of the season such grassy areas are cut down to ensure an optimum balance of open water and tall grasses. Beyond the water lies another peninsula lined with trees, with fog beyond and that winter sky high above it all.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: morning

Trees, Ridge, Morning Haze

Forest, Granite Ridges

Tufa, Sky, Passing Birds

Wetlands, Morning Fog

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