Tag Archives: morning

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake in Shadow

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Lake in Shadow
“Lake in Shadow” — Morning light strikes cliffs above a shadowed Sierra Nevada lake.

For more than a decade, during most summers I have spent a solid week in the Sierra Nevada backcountry with fellow photographers, base-camped at various beautiful locations. (Travel and other things have interfered during the past two years.) These trips give us the opportunity to focus on photographing a limited area in a variety of conditions. On these trips we live in one small area for a week, and photograph only what we can walk to, frequently revisiting subjects several times.

This lake was just below our camp, and of course we photographed it many times — morning and night, sunshine, rain, fog, you name it. Most often I hoped for light that would open shadows in the landscape, but on this morning I decided to go with the shade and let portions of the image remain dark. In fact, the luminosity curve of this photograph is weighted strongly to the dark end of the scale. But I think that it captures the quiet mood here as the sun worked its way up the far valley toward “our lake.”

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: England, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Shambles Market

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Shambles Market
“Shambles Market” — The Shambles Market on a cloudy June morning, York, England.

You probably know the feeling. You are in an unfamiliar town. You want breakfast. You head out looking for just the right place, like we did on this morning in York. You think of a particular area where you want to look, but when you arrive you discover that not much is open yet — it is a cloudy morning and still too early for the tourist onslaught. You look at one place but think you’ll look around a bit more. You wander past the little coffee shop, but it looks funky. There are some food trucks, but they don’t have whatever it is you want. So you wander back where you started and enter a little place like this one.

The possibly-contrived cuteness of the place might have initially put me off, but once inside the scones looked good, the bakery smells were anttractive, and they seemed to have the right kinds of coffee. We ordered and went upstairs to wait. When you see this photo of the storefront imagine that it is wider than what you see only by the width of the entrance doorway out of sight to the left. It was a tiny place — barely enough room on the ground floor for two of us to stand at the counter and order. But in had many floors, each equally compact.

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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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Headlands, Clearing Fog

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Headlands, Clearing Fog
“Headlands, Clearing Fog” — Headlands drop precipitously into the Pacific Ocean as fog thins in the distance along rugged the Big Sur Coast.

Although I have visited and photographed the Big Sur Coast for decades, I find new subjects or new ways to see old subjects every time I go. However, I have a confession to make about this particular subject. I go back to it on almost every visit and continue to photograph it despite there being quite a few previous versions in my archives. I think I do this partly because the conditions change (here it is almost backlit and the distant fog is layered), and partly just because I find this feature so intriguing. On a coastline full of steep precipices dropping into the sea, this one stands out.

I was down there again in mid-August. As is often the case, I decide to go based on the weather forecast. This time it called for somewhat persistent fog along the coast, and I was expecting to be able to work with that murky subject. Imagine my surprise, after driving through truly dense fog near the Salinas Valley, when I arrived at the coast to find it virtually clear!

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Forest and Cove

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Forest and Cove
“Forest and Cove” — Forest trees and a cove on a foggy morning at Point Lobos State Reserve.

The north shore of Point Lobos is a beautiful and wild place. The meeting of land and sea is a bit more rugged here, with taller cliffs. Steep headlands alternate with coves, many of them narrow and full of rough water. The evocative shapes of Monterey cypress trees top the cliffs, some barely clinging to rocky slopes and many acquiring unusual shapes.

I often discover new things about places that I thought I knew well. I’ve been going to Point Lobos since I was a child. I knew, of course, about these fascinating coves, but it only recently occurred to me that they might have names! This one is “Bluefish Cove,” and it is one or the larger ones, more open to the sea. The trail circles around its inner edge, though it is lined with trees that often obscure clear views of its waters. It is a trail, like many at Point Lobos, that rewards casual and aware sauntering more than purposeful, businesslike hiking.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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