Tag Archives: morning

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Morning Sky After Autumn Snow

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Morning Sky After Autumn Snow
A cloud-speckled morning sky above the Eastern Sierra Nevada after light snow from an autumn storm.

Morning Sky After Autumn Snow. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cloud-speckled morning sky above the Eastern Sierra Nevada after light snow from an autumn storm.Morning Sky After Autumn Snow

On this second of two autumn visits to the Eastern Sierra this season we arrived after a few days of early winter-like storms. That’s not unusual during this transition season, a time when it seems that warm and sunny autumn days may alternate with bouts of weather that feels distinctly winter-like. While the weather was in the “warm and sunny” pattern by the time we arrived, we had to alter our plans since several of the high passes were still closed by the early snow.

On our first full day there we headed up towards the base of the eastern escarpment of the range, driving up dirt roads that climbed the huge, gently sloping country below the steeper peaks, an area that is perhaps characterized as high desert. As we gained elevation and worked our way closer to the mountains the views to the north and east began to open up. Far away and beneath morning clouds remaining from the recent passage of a weather front, we could see distant snow-capped peaks, and the very summit of the closer ridge also is topped with a light coat of the early snow.

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

Bluffs and Mist, Morning Light

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Bluffs and Mist, Morning Light
Coastal bluffs, morning fog and mist along the Big Sur coast.

Bluffs and Mist, Morning Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Coastal bluffs, morning fog and mist along the Big Sur coast.

Photographing along the Big Sur Coast in the early morning presents some challenges and some special opportunities. The challenge is straightforward — in almost all locations there are mountains to your east that block the morning light. This means that you won’t see the earliest eastern sunrise sky at all, and that the landscape is frequently all or partly in shadow. But one of the opportunities comes from the same source — light arriving along the coast just as the sun clears these obstructions often passes through narrow clefts and valleys, and when the air is full of fog and mist this can create a plethora of light beams.

Those beams are what I saw in this scene. The process of finding the composition here is one that I use a lot. I stopped at a familiar location that presents a very large and panoramic landscape featuring a famous icon. My first instinct was to photograph anything but that icon, so I framed a composition that took in a section of coast and surf running away from me to the south. After I made a few exposures of that subject, each of which tried to capture a different state of the surf, I became interested in the bluff at the far end of the scene. So I went with a very long focal length and honed in on this small part of the larger landscape, focusing on the beautiful shaft of light between the bluffs that lit up the fog and spray and highlighted sections of the surf.

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

Big Sur Morning Surf

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Big Sur Morning Surf
Pacific Ocean surf crashes ashore on a foggy autumn morning along the Big Sur coast.

Big Sur Morning Surf. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pacific Ocean surf crashes ashore on a foggy autumn morning along the Big Sur coast.

This photograph comes from my early November visit to the upper portions of California’s rugged Big Sur Coast, an area I can visit on short notice. On this visit I left home before dawn, photographed there a few hours, and returned home for a late lunch. Yeah, I’m trying to rub it in… These visits usually feature a combination of stops at familiar locations, where I look for new or different conditions, and the ongoing search for new locations and perspectives that I have not previously photographed.

This photograph mostly fits the first of those two categories. I made the photograph at a location where I frequently stop. The spot features a long view of a beautiful subject beyond rugged rocks and a small bay that is often full of agitated water. On this morning the surf was so wild that I decided to focus on it instead of the larger view. Every few moments a huge wave would crash against this outcropping sending water and spray up into the line of sunlight coming over the tops of the mountains to my left.

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 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: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: White Mountains

Owens Valley and the White Mountains

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Owens Valley and the White Mountains
The morning view from the base of the Sierra Nevada, looking across Owens Valley to the White Mountains.

Owens Valley and the White Mountains. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The morning view from the base of the Sierra Nevada, looking across Owens Valley to the White Mountains.

Our recent road trip began in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. The reason for starting here was aspen color, and whether or not that ended up being the primary photographic focus the fall aspens are always worth a visit. Having photographed that subject for quite a few years, going to only the “usual places” is no longer quite enough, so I invariably end up heading out and exploring some places where aspen hunters typically don’t go. On this morning we headed up toward the base of the Sierra, passing through lots of aspen-free high desert terrain, and finally reaching a high enough point that we found some small, isolated groves.

In places like this, aspens can take a back seat to the larger and even monumental vistas along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra. With a bit of elevation, views open to the north, south, and (especially) to the high ridges of the White Mountains along the eastern side of Owens Valley. Although this range is in the rain shadow of the Sierra, and thus lacks the Sierra forests and deep snow, it is just as high and rugged. The photograph looks straight across Owens Valley toward the range, where White Mountain, the highest point, is just nudging Into the base of the morning clouds.

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.