Tag Archives: Mountain

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

Dormant Oaks, Winter Mists

May 25, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Dormant oak trees silhouetted against winter morning mists and cliffs, Yosemite Valley, California

This is an alternate version of a photograph that I shared earlier. Back in February I was in Yosemite Valley briefly for the opening of the annual Yosemite Renaissance exhibition, and this gave me one day to photograph there in interesting conditions. While the most familiar images of the Valley for most people probably involve waterfalls and spring or summer sunshine on granite (with a few well-known exceptions!), my favorite conditions involve snow, clouds, mist, and perhaps even a bit of rain. All of those were present on this day!

I was up quite early, and since we stayed in the Valley it was only a matter of taking a short walk and I could begin shooting. For a place that can be impressively or even depressingly crowded at certain times of the year, it is possible to find near-solitude on a cold and wet winter morning just before dawn, even in places that would typically be quite crowded during popular times of the year. In fact, this photograph was made from a shuttle bus stop not far from Yosemite Falls! I had been photographing nearby meadows and trees when the mist turned to sprinkles and then to rain, and I went to the shuttle stop to find temporary cover under its roof – only to realize that some interesting shots might well be possible from under this shelter!

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

Trees on Granite Ridge

May 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Rugged trees growing along the top of a glaciated granite ridge, Yosemite National Park

I made this photograph on my first visit of the season to the Tioga Pass area of the Yosemite National Park high country. I managed to be there on the first and second open days. This was an unusual though perhaps not unprecedented sort of opening, in that there was a record low amount of snow in the Sierra as the warm season began, and this was the second of two back-to-back low-snowfall winters. This season was an odd one. I was in the Sierra back in early fall and it seemed like we might actually have an early and wet winter. Certainly things played out that way through the end of 2012 – but then the tap was shut off and there was precious little precipitation at all during the first part of 2013. As you can see in the photograph, there was still some snow around, but it looked more like late June or even early July of a more typical year.

The photograph was made near a very popular location along Tioga Pass Road, though I walked more or less the opposite direction from the objects of everyone else’s interest to find a vantage point that let me photograph back across this granite ridge, littered with glacial erratic boulders and the debris from exfoliation, and supporting a few trees. The morning light slanted in from behind the ridge and the trees and left a bluish haze between this ridge and the even larger granite ridge across a deep valley.

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

Dogwood Blossoms, Rushing Water

May 21, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Spring dogwood blossoms on a branch above rushing water, Yosemite Valley, California

Continuing with this spring’s “dogwood blossoms over water” theme, here is another from my one-day dogwood photography foray to Yosemite Valley in early May. This photograph was made in an area where I made several others of more or less this subject, a spot where I was able to position myself so that dogwood blossoms in soft shadow light would appear against a background of darker water that was in even deeper shade.

Besides getting a beautiful branch to hang diagonally across the frame, in this photograph I was interested in a background that included both some darker water and some of the constantly changing patterns of white water. Anyone who has tried this will recognize that the task provides a combination of wonderful, time-killing fun and some frustration as you realize that you just missed another unexpected and ephemeral pattern of water flow. Needless to say, I (and most other photographers I’ve talked to) are glad we have digital cameras now, since there are often quite a few ordinary or worse frames for each decent or good one!

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

Dogwood Branch, Whirlpool

May 16, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A gentle whirlpool on the surface of the Merced River behind a hanging dogwood branch with spring blossoms

I have photographed dogwood blossoms quite a few times before, but I had never quite gotten around to trying my hand at the “dogwood over water” photographs that are so popular and which can be so beautiful. However, on this early May 2013 visit to Yosemite Valley I made that one of my loose goals during a single day of shooting. Fortunately for me, this was a great year for dogwood blossoms and I managed to arrive at what must have been just about the perfect time. Too early, and the flowers can be sparse and perhaps a bit green; arrive too late and they can be quite worn our, with brown spots and holes. But during my brief visit I think I saw them growing more thickly on the Valley trees than I remember from past visits, and many of them were still in great shape.

I found a steep section of river bank not far from a bridge – and the bridge provided some shade and softer light on the water. This branch was hanging right down over the edge of the water, with a bit of bridge and tree shadow darkening the smooth water in this section of the Merced River. The main challenge with this subject is, perhaps surprisingly, the combination of the need for somewhat long exposures and the difficulty of getting perfectly breeze-free conditions right above the water. Even on a relatively still day, over the river the air is likely to be moving, and it doesn’t take much movement to blur exposures of a quarter second or longer. I wait for still moments, I try to shoot near the apex of the branch movement, and I may make quite a few exposures, knowing that many of them will not be sharp enough. Luck was with me on this one though. Not only is the branch still, but right at this moment an attractive round “mini-whirlpool” formed in the water behind the branch and interrupted the darker water with a bit of reflected blue sky.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: Mountain

Dormant Oaks, Winter Mists

Trees on Granite Ridge

Dogwood Blossoms, Rushing Water

Dogwood Branch, Whirlpool

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