Tag Archives: Mountain

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Granite Ridge, Trees

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Granite Ridge, Trees
Tall trees on top of a granite ridge, Yosemite National Park

Granite Ridge, Trees. Yosemite National Park, California. September 12, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tall trees on top of a granite ridge, Yosemite National Park

This has been a period of unprecedented drought in California as a whole and particularly in the Sierra Nevada. In the fourth of this series of drought years the Sierra is showing the strain. Creeks have stopped flowing, lake levels are significantly low, trees are under stress and dying throughout the range. This summer the annual wildfire season began much earlier than usual, and many fires spread quickly and took longer to contain. We certainly saw all of these effects during our week-long photographic sojourn in the Yosemite backcountry. Until we had a couple of days of (welcome!) rain near the end of the trip, the smoke was a major factor. On many days we had smoke so thick that we were concerned about our health, and the pall often made photography somewhat challenging. Fortunately, even on the smokiest days there were times when it was clear, too.

However, it is possible to see how to make photographs even in smoky conditions. On the plus side, some smoke can soften the light a bit, and the haze can enhance the atmospheric recession effect, which can emphasize the distances between subjects in front of the camera. The haze in this photograph comes partially from wildfire smoke. Here it muted to sometimes-difficult highlights on the granite, and it softened and muted the distant forest across the valley.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Reflections, Cathedral Range Granite

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Reflections, Cathedral Range Granite
Still waters of a lake reflect Cathedral Range granite patterns, Yosemite National Park

Reflections, Cathedral Range Granite. Yosemite National Park, California. September 12, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved

Still waters of a lake reflect Cathedral Range granite patterns, Yosemite National Park

This is likely to be the first in a somewhat large group of photographs made during a recent weeklong stay at a backcountry Sierra Nevada lake with friends and fellow photographers Charlie Cramer and Scot Miller. The two of them are part of a larger group of photographers who have photographed annually in the high Sierra, most often in Yosemite, for about the past 15 years. I’m a more recent hanger-on, first tagging along on my own perhaps a half-dozen years ago, and then participating more fully for the past three years or so. The typical plan is to pack in to a scenic backcountry location, set up a base camp, and then photograph the heck out of the area for a week or so. This approach has all kinds of advantages — too many to completely describe them here — including the ability to watch for perfection conditions or to return to a location and refine a vision of the subject over a period of days.

Near the start of the trip I saw this little area where vertical rocks meet water near the edge of a lake. My first photographs were OK, but just OK. However, I knew the spot had potential given the right water and light conditions. I watched the area each time I passed it, always watching for those better conditions. I got them on this day, when the water had become almost completely still, producing a more coherent reflection of the lichen-covered rocks.

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

Unicorn Peak, Grazing Deer, Evening

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Unicorn Peak, Grazing Deer, Evening
A small herd of deer grazes in the evening at Tuolumne Meadows below Unicorn Peak

Unicorn Peak, Grazing Deer, Evening. Yosemite National Park, California. August 12, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small herd of deer grazes in the evening at Tuolumne Meadows below Unicorn Peak

On the first evening of this July visit to the Yosemite high country I happened to run into several photographer friends, completely by chance, as I pulled over to take a look at some interesting trees. I had set up my camp and was out scouting, as yet with no clear plan, when I found them, and we decided to join forces and head off to photograph a section of the Tuolumne River. As the end of the day approached we headed back to the main meadow to photograph the final evening light, and I ended up at the edge of Tuolumne Meadows at the base of a low dome.

I went to work making photographs of some distant subjects, but became more and more aware of the large herd of deer grazing nearby. Eventually I could not ignore them, as some of the animals were brave enough to pass within feet of my position! It was cloudy, and as a single ray of light passed across the forest on the far side of the meadow I made this photograph that includes the deer, the forest and some peaks of the Cathedral Range.

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

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

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Meadow, Forest, and Dome
Afternoon light along the edge of Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park

Meadow, Forest, and Dome. Yosemite National Park, California. July 14, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Afternoon light along the edge of Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park

Late in the afternoon, about the time that many day visitors leave Tuolumne Meadows for their lodgings and when many campers are fixing dinner, I wandered out into the meadow with no particular destination in mind. With the exception of a few other walkers and two or three deer, I mostly had the meadow to myself. I walked slowly along a narrow finger of grasses between trees encroaching that are gradually encroaching on the meadow, passed through the last trees in one of these stands, and found myself in a large section of open meadow. After so many years in the Sierra and particularly in this place, it has a quiet and comfortable and unhurried feeling on an evening like this one.

Farther downstream the larger forest trees came to the edge of the meadow, and late afternoon golden light slanted across the meadow past these trees. Beyond the shoulder of a granite dome sloped down toward the lower terrain, catching the sun from the west.

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 | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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