Tag Archives: Mountain

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Early Autumn Color, Lake and Mountain

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Early Autumn Color, Lake and Mountain
Early autumn color along the shore of a Sierra Nevada alpine lake

Early Autumn Color, Lake and Mountain. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early autumn color along the shore of a Sierra Nevada alpine lake

One of the pleasures of photographing from a backcountry base camp is that I can roll out of my sleeping bag and climb out of the tent… and start photographing almost at my doorstep. We camped near this lake for a full week, and on several mornings and evenings I explored it, gradually pushing out my boundaries, traveling a bit further along and beyond its shoreline, and getting to know it in different light at various times of day.

I made this photograph on one of those morning walks, when I set out slowly towards the far opposite end of the lake near its outlet stream. I was in no hurry, taking time to observe and photograph as I walked. Eventually I made it to that further point, photographed a bit there, and turned around to start back toward camp, continuing to photograph. The lake remained in the shadow of the tall ridge to the left long after sunrise, and as I walked back the first beams of light reached the shoreline. In this photograph a lakeside willow bush is catching some of that first light.

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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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Lake and Sierra Crest Peaks

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Alpine Lake and Sierra Crest Peaks
The peaks of the Sierra Nevada crest tower above a reflecting alpine lake

Alpine Lake and Sierra Crest Peaks. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The peaks of the Sierra Nevada crest tower above a reflecting alpine lake

This photograph is another from the northeast boundary country around Yosemite National Park — the park starts on the far side of the high ridge. I’ve always thought that his area deserves inclusion in the park since the scenery is as spectacular as inside the park, and today most of it is wilderness. I haven’t researched this, but I suspect that the explanation may have two parts. First, the crest of the Sierra was an obvious place to draw a boundary. Second, mining took place in this area, something that always makes the establishment of a park more complicated. That mining ended a long time ago, but you can still find traces.

This is the same lovely subalpine lake I wrote about earlier. I hiked here early in the morning, hitting the trail at dawn, and spent more than an hour slowly exploring this spot and making photographs. The air was still at times, so the reflections of the rugged and rocky ridge was often rather clear, and the symmetry of the reflected image was remarkable.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
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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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Slabs and Domes, Clearing Storm, Evening

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Tuolumne Meadows in evening light as afternoon storm clouds begin to clear

Slabs and Domes, Clearing Storm, Evening. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tuolumne Meadows in evening light as afternoon storm clouds begin to clear

This was an evening of dramatically evolving light, alternately brilliant and blah! Thunderstorm weather in the Sierra is such a tricky and transitory thing, and there are frequent swings from “meh” light to astonishing light. When the storm conditions are at their peak, the light can be very flat and “gray,” with little contrast — and it can be a challenge to find ways to make effective photographs. (Not impossible, mind you… just challenging!) But these conditions often bear the seeds of remarkable and dramatic light, especially as the storms begin to clear. Breaks in the cloud cover often send beams of light — frequently warm, saturated golden hour light — across parts of the landscape, and this light may highlight specific features against a backdrop of contrasting darker scenery and dramatic clouds.

These effects can appear (and disappear) quite quickly, and landscape photography in these conditions becomes anything but a leisurely and meditative process. In fact, it is more a matter of “photograph now or it will disappear!” In truth, things happen so quickly that they often disappear before there is time to set up a camera and make a photograph. The light on the foreground meadow and its protruding granite slabs and boulders came in at a low angle from the west, here more clearing was taking place. I was fortunate in that it not only highlighted the foreground formation but also lit up the more distant granite domes, which stand out against their darker surroundings.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
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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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Spire, Mist, and Snow

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Spire, Mist, and Snow
A Yosemite spire briefly emerges from mist and snow

Spire, Mist, and Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Yosemite spire briefly emerges from mist and snow

During winter conditions, with snow and clouds and mists, interesting details appear all around Yosemite Valley, often in places that we might pay almost not attention to in more benign conditions. It is possible to think of the granite walls of the Valley as being monolithic, but the reality is the they are full of texture and detail that simply gets overlooked against the monumental scale of the most famous features. But when the dramatic conditions of winter (and late fall and early spring) arrive, bits and pieces of the landscape can briefly emerge from obscurity.

I don’t know if this feature even has a name, but I’ve been watching it in such conditions for a while, trying to figure out how to photograph it. For one thing, it requires a long lens — from a distance the area encompassed by this photograph is small. For another, it requires special light and atmosphere — ideally muted by ever-so-slightly directional light plus swirling mists and clouds. Both were present on this day as an early spring snow storm passed through the Valley.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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