Tag Archives: Mountain

Favorite Time in the Range of Light (Morning Musings 8/31/14)

August 31, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thoughts about seasonal light in the Range of Light…

Sunset, Lower McCabe Lake, Shepherds Crest, and Virginia Canyon - Afternoon storm clouds clear from the sunset sky above Lower McCabe Lake, Shepherds Crest, and Virginia Canyon, Yosemite National Park. — Sunset, Lower McCabe Lake

It is no secret that I can find something to love about every season in the Sierra Nevada — the storms and snow of winter, the wildly flowing water and new growth of spring, and the lazy days of summer that bring easy access to the high country. But if I had to pick one perfect day in the Sierra high country it would be in fall.

This ideal day would come some time between the middle of September and the middle of October, when it becomes increasingly clear that summer really is ending and that winter really is on its way. This is not a wild season — no giant winter storms, no raging rivers and waterfalls, no spectacular growth and colorful fields of wildflowers. It is a quieter time. The crowds are almost all gone, and the people you do meet there are more likely to be those with a deeper relationship with this range.

The light is beautiful — perhaps as beautiful as it gets — and perhaps even more precious because it doesn’t last as long on these shortening days of the late season. The sun is lower in the sky and less intense, and there is often a muted, golden quality to the light, amplified by the golden colors of dry meadows, the beginning of fall colors, and softened by seasonal haze. And it is all the more sweet because we know that winter is just around the corner and that these days will end very soon.

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Commentary, Events, Locations, Morning Musings

Sierra Nevada Fall Color (Morning Musings 8/25/14)

August 25, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

For various reasons — projects I’m working on, clear signs of the changing seasons, photographs I’ve recently seen — I have been getting into that autumn frame of mind that comes at about this time every year. With that in mind, today’s “morning musings” post is about finding and photographing fall color in the Sierra Nevada. Rather than re-writing the whole thing, I’ll start by pointing you to an extensive guide that I wrote a few years ago and have updated every year since that time — if you are thinking of chasing aspen color this fall you may want to take a look: “Sierra Nevada Fall Color — Coming Sooner Than You Think”

If things evolve on a relatively typical schedule, eastern Sierra aspen color is perhaps about six weeks away. I have been photographing this subject for a while now, and it is one of my favorites. I intend to be out there again this fall.

One popular game at this time of year is to predict/guess when the colors will arrive and how good they will be. I’m fully aware that I’ve been wrong quite a few times, and my increasing knowledge of this subject has perhaps only made me more aware of how unpredictable this can be. However, this year I have to wonder about the effects on the trees from our three-year California drought, which has reached an extreme level all across the state this year. I don’t know what the results will be, but I’m considering some possibilities:

During the last two years it seemed to me that I was seeing the onset of color move a bit earlier in the season. I have to wonder if we may see stressed trees go into fall mode a bit on the early side this year.
Some people say that they are seeing a few aspen groves turning brownish-yellow already and looking like they are drying out.
Also during the last few dry years we have seen some anomalous early season storms, and I wonder if that pattern will continue. This can affect the season in various ways if it happens. On the negative side, leaves can blow down early. On the positive side, snow and aspens can make a beautiful pair.

As always, to the extent possible, I like to remain flexible about when and where I’ll photograph the aspens, and I watch the evolving conditions to see what this season may bring. How about you? What are your fall color plans?

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

Clouds Rest, With Resting Clouds

August 8, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter evening clouds swirl around the snow-covered ridge of Clouds Rest, Yosemite

This will be the final photograph in this recent series of winter Yosemite Valley photographs from our late-winter 2014 visit to the park. As I hope for when I go there at this time of year, there was interesting and variable light, clouds that ranged from scattered to socked-in, the usual assortment of meadows and trees and rocks. We had the better part of three days to explore.

On this evening we ended up at that most iconic of iconic landscapes in Yosemite, the Tunnel View overlook. I often either pass by Tunnel View, or perhaps stop and get out to look around a bit before heading on. Being lucky enough to live a reasonable drive from the park and to visit the Sierra often, I’ve become a bit more selective about when I’ll stop there and take out the camera. On this visit, as clouds came in, many of the other potential subjects in the Valley were under rather poor light, so I guessed that there was a chance that we might “get something” (or maybe not) from this higher overlook. The clouds were challenging. At times they obscured many interesting things, and most of the time the interesting light was blocked. However, for a few moments they cleared partially at the far end of the Valley and it was briefly possible to see the sunlit and snow-covered slopes of Clouds Rest and a few other points in the distance.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Red, White, and Blue Hour

August 1, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The last red sunset light falls on a forested ridge in front of snow topped Half Dome in blue dusk light

This past winter I was in Yosemite Valley for a few days for the opening of the Yosemite Renaissance Exhibit, and I had many opportunities to head out and photograph the Valley in beautiful foggy, cloudy conditions, with a bit of snow still remaining from earlier storms. (I also had a great time meeting up with plenty of other friends and photographers who were also there for this event and a simultaneous film festival.)

Sometimes I know what I want to photograph in the Valley, and I simply to look for that thing, often knowing exactly where to go find it. But in conditions such as those of this weekend, which included a lot of clouds and changing light, sometimes it was impossible to know for sure what the conditions were going to do. See fog developing? Head for a high place or a meadow. Possibility of sunset color? Perhaps one of the well-known Valley views. Clouds swirling around the upper ridges? Get out a long lens and shoot from innumerable locations. Soft sunlight? Perhaps time to photograph trees and granite. On this evening a number of us ended up at that most iconic of iconic Yosemite locations, Tunnel View. For the last few years, I’ve been playing a slightly different game at Tunnel View when I end up there, often shooting with very long focal lengths and trying to pick out small bits and pieces of the larger scene. I had been doing that and had pretty much wrapped up for the evening, since the light seemed to be dying behind clouds to the west, and in fact I was loading equipment into the car when my wife said, more or less, “Look at that!” A band of intensely red end-of-sunset light had found its way through a gap in the clouds to the west and suddenly cast an intense glow across this ridge standing between me and Half Dome. So we have red (of sun on ridge), white (of snow) and blue (of the blue hour light on Half Dome and the clouds above).

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: Mountain

Favorite Time in the Range of Light (Morning Musings 8/31/14)

Sierra Nevada Fall Color (Morning Musings 8/25/14)

Clouds Rest, With Resting Clouds

Red, White, and Blue Hour

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.