Tag Archives: Mountain

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

Fading Autumn Color

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Fading Autumn Color
Fading Autumn Color

Fading Autumn Color. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 11, 1013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Eastern Sierra aspen trees near Conway Summit transition from full color to bare trunks

As I’ve worked on a project recently, I have been going through virtually almost all of my photographs of Sierra Nevada fall color, and along the way I have rediscovered photographs that I had forgotten or, in some cases, never really looked at seriously before. I know many photographers who have this same experience of wondering why they missed certain images when they made them, and then only “found” them much later when revisiting their archives. (I have some theories about how and why this happens, but I’ll save them for another time.)

There are some bands of aspens running up a narrow valley in this area of the eastern Sierra. I had seen them many times before but either they were not in the right condition, in poor light (their location makes light challenging), or I was unable to stop. On this particular visit I managed to find a place from which to view them, and the trees were at that wonderful stage when some leaves are in peak color but others have fallen, and the beautiful white trunks become more visible.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek

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Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek
Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek

Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek. Sierra Nevada, California. October 4, 2009. © Copyright 2009 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light autumn snow falls on peaks above aspen groves along the South Fork of Bishop Creek

This is a photograph from a wonderful, short trip into the eastern Sierra about five years ago. I believe that I made two trips to the “east side” that fall to photograph aspens, and on this one (the first of the two) I had a couple of days of winter-like weather with clouds and snow. This could put a damper on photography… unless you share my fascination with “interesting” weather, in which case it seems like that best thing that could happen.

I came back from this trip with some very special photographs, mostly because I ran into conditions that were not quite so typical for Sierra autumn. The most typical Sierra day at this time of year starts cold but then becomes warm and sunny with the beautiful autumn light. I love those days, but I’ve seen enough of them to like some variety, too. And that’s what I got on this trip. On one morning it was so cloudy up high that I decided to drive down out of the range and shoot back up towards in the broken light of a stormy dawn. On this day I headed back up toward the high country and photographed aspen color against a backdrop of mountain peaks disappearing into snow showers.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Mount Humphreys, Dawn

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Mount Humphreys, Dawn
Cloud banners blow from the summit pf snow-dusted Mount Humpreys in autumn dawn light

Mount Humphreys, Dawn. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 10, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cloud banners blow from the summit pf snow-dusted Mount Humpreys in autumn dawn light

This photograph is from a spectacular landscape in the easter Sierra above the town of Bishop, in what is sometimes called Buttermilk Country, or just plain “the Buttermilks.” Here the land rises gradually and steadily from the Owens Valley lowlands near the town, first gradually, then building into the eroded and rounded rocky hills like those catching the sun in the center of this photograph, and finally culminating in the alpine peaks of the Sierra Nevada Crest. The tallest peak in the photograph is Mount Humphreys.

As is typical at this autumn time of year, I was in the eastern Sierra to photograph fall color — which mostly means aspen trees. My recollection is that we started up toward the mountains from Bishop very early in the morning, before sunrise, and then decided that the dawn light on the eastern face of the Sierra offered more possibilities than yet more aspen photographs — besides, the aspens would still be there after this sunrise light was gone! We left the main road and followed gravel tracks that I know from previous visits and arrived at this spot with its view of foreground hills and crest peaks just as the dawn light show began.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Basin Mountain, Mount Humphreys, Dawn

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Dawn light on a stormy morning above Basin Mountain, Mount Humphreys and the Sierra Nevada crest

Basin Mountain, Mount Humphreys, Dawn. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright 2009 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light on a stormy morning above Basin Mountain, Mount Humphreys and the Sierra Nevada crest

Let’s welcome the New Year with a sunrise photograph! Happy New Year 2015! I made the photograph a bit more than five years ago, during a fall trip to the Eastern Sierra to photograph autumn colors. I made a series of similar photographs on this morning, at least one of which I have shared in the past. However, as I worked my way though a decade’s worth of old raw files during the past few weeks, I came on this one and felt that it could work will in the panoramic presentation seen here.

As I recall, on that morning I had awakened at my camp higher up in the mountains, planning to head further up the canyon before daybreak to photograph high elevation aspen trees. However, the light did not look promising, as it was quite overcast. I realized that it was one of those mornings when there was a chance for a special lighting condition that occurs when it is clear far to the east, and right at sunrise a narrow band of light breaks under the clouds and sends a line of light across the eastern face of the Sierra, light that works its way down from top to bottom as the sun comes up. So I quickly changed plans and headed the opposite direction and out into the “Buttermilk Country” below the Sierra, arriving just in time to find this beautiful light.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.