Tag Archives: Mountain

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

El Capitan, Clouds Rest, and Half Dome – Morning Light

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El Capitan, Clouds Rest, and Half Dome - Morning Light
El Capitan, Clouds Rest, and Half Dome – Morning Light. Yosemite National Park, California. April 27, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hardly need to identify the subject of this photograph! It was taken from that place – the Wawona Tunnel View. Although it is nearly impossible to create a new view of this scene, I’ll mention a few things that are different from the usual “line up with other photographers and photograph the sunset” shots. This was done with a rather long lens – shot with the 100-400mm, it is morning, the actual light was quite hazy and filtered.

As to why anyone would shoot this spot… well, there is a reason that everyone stops and gawks from this spot… ;-) Sometimes I stop there as I pass by and don’t bother to even get the camera out.

California, National Park, Sierra Nevada, Spring, Yosemite, valley, wawona, tunnel, view, el capitan, clouds rest, half dome, morning, light, cliff, mountain, forest, clouds, haze, scenic, landscape, travel, stock, usa

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Death Valley Dunes, Morning

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Death Valley Dunes, Morning

Death Valley Dunes, Morning. Death Valley National Park, California. April 4, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light at Death Valley Dunes near Stovepipe Wells with the lower slopes of Tucki Mountain in the distance.

This is a different version – a landscape orientation, in this case – of a scene that produced one of my favorite photographs from this trip, a black and white portrait orientation photograph of these dunes with Tucki Mountain in the background and clouds above. This color version focuses more on the texture and warm tones of the sunlit sand itself.

keywords: death valley, dunes, national park, tucki, mountain, folds, valleys, waves, ripples, light, shadow, curves, stovepipe wills, sand, desert, light, scenic, travel, landscape, stock, california, usa

Photographs: Death Valley

Stovepipe Dunes, Tucki Mountain, and Morning Clouds

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Stovepipe Dunes, Tucki Mountain, and Morning Clouds

Stovepipe Dunes, Tucki Mountain, and Morning Clouds. Death Valley National Park, California. April 4, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Stovepipe Wells Dunes, Tucki Mountain, and morning clouds, Death Valley National Park, California. After shooting early farther out in the dunes, I encountered this scene while starting my hike back to my car.

It is interesting to note the number of ways in which this photograph was the result of serendipity. First, I went to the back side of the dunes rather than the more typical sections. Second, I had pretty much finished my shooting (yeah, right!) and was heading back to the car. Third, I just happened to wander up on this particular dune – almost didn’t go there at all. Fourth, the light was nothing like this when I first saw it – this section was mostly in shadow. Fifth, those wonderful clouds that mirror the texture of the dune surface just happened to float into the scene as the light came across the top of the dune to illuminate this section of the sand.

(This photograph brings to mind an Ansel Adams quote: “Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” Adams also offer a critique of God: “Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships!” ;-)

keywords: Tucki, mountain, sky, clouds, stovepipe, wells, sand, dune, peak, desert, morning, ripples, death valley, national park, california, usa, travel, scenic, landscape, black and white, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Trees in Mist, Motherlode Near Drytown

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Trees in Mist, Motherlode Near Drytown
Trees in Mist, Motherlode Near Drytown. Sierra Nevada Gold Country, California. March 29, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees in the mist on a wet spring morning in the Motherlode near Drytown, California. This was photographed on a drive up some very lonely and narrow back roads above Highway 49 in Amador County. I only exposed four frames in this challenging weather, but since two of the four turned out to be interesting I’ll console myself with a 50% success rate. :-)

keywords: California, Cloud, Foothills, gold country, Grass, Landscape, Meadow, Morning, Mountain, rain, Rock, Sierra Nevada, Spring, Travel, Tree, mist, fog, drytown, motherlode, gold country, highway 49, usa, scenic, travel, nature, stock, silhouette, green