Tag Archives: mountains

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Peaks And Sunset Clouds

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Peaks And Sunset Clouds
Colorful sunset clouds above the crest of the Sierra Nevada

Peaks And Sunset Clouds. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful sunset clouds above the crest of the Sierra Nevada.

The High Sierra can be a place of remarkable and striking light… but more often the conditions revolve around successive days of perfectly blue, cloud-free skies. That is probably among the reason the place is called the “range of light,” but it also can be challenging for photographers hoping for special, unusual, and striking conditions. Yes, we complain about “perfect, blue-sky conditions!

But eventually, even in this gentle range, the conditions do change. Most often in the summertime Sierra the change comes from periodic intrusions of monsoonal moisture that bring a few days of thunderstorms. On our recent trip we got a bit of that on our hike in… and then, a week later, on our hike out. For the rest of our stay was almost under those “perfect” conditions… except for our last evening, when the Sierra presented us with these beautiful sunset clouds, producing a beautiful luminous benediction to our visit.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tree, Lake, Granite Bench

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Tree, Lake, Granite Bench
A solitary tree grows along the shoreline of an alpine lake below Sierra Nevada granite benches

Tree, Lake, Granite Bench. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary tree grows along the shoreline of an alpine lake below Sierra Nevada granite benches.

This is another “quiet light” photograph, made during the “edge of the day” times when the light is muted and soft, when the glow of light on nearby rocks gently enters the scene. During these hours, especially in the morning, the air is still and cool, the reflective surface of water is unbroken, and the world is a quiet place.

I made this photograph very near to our weeklong backcountry base camp, in a high, rocky spot nestled in the curving shore of an 11,000′ lake in a valley full of meadows, boulders, and running water. The high valley was surrounded by even higher peaks, and every morning before the sun rose above those ridges we have and hour of more of this light.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Near Point Sur

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Near Point Sur
Morning fog clears above a long beach and coastal bluffs near the mouth of the Little Sur River and Point Sur

Near Point Sur. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog clears above a long beach and coastal bluffs near the mouth of the Little Sur River and Point Sur.

The summer/fall seasonal boundary is not necessarily my favorite time to visit the California coast, but sometimes I get lucky! Although it may seem counter-intuitive to folks who aren’t familiar with this region, the beginning of autumn is generally the sunniest and warmest time of the year on the coast. And while that may seem like great news to people who go to the coast to visit beaches — and who want warmth! — as a photographer I prefer more “interesting” conditions: large surf, clouds, incoming and departing storms, or at least some fog!

The weather report wasn’t promising on this day — it looking like the coast would (literally) be “clear.” But since I had the morning free I headed towards the area south of Monterey anyway. The first hint that the weather reports might be wrong in a delightful way came halfway there when I entered thick inland fog that clearly had come from the coast. Monterey Bay was largely socked in, and below Carmel the fog was still reaching up into coastal hills. As I approached this familiar bay, where the Little Sur River reaches the ocean just above Point Sur, the fog was intermittently thinning and rebuilding, so I stopped in a high location and waited for the right conditions to emerge.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Mountain Stream

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Mountain Stream
A Sierra Nevada stream cascades over and around rocks

Mountain Stream. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Sierra Nevada stream cascades over and around rocks.

To be honest, photographing moving water like this can easily become addictive, and there are endless variations on how you might do it. Shutter speed variations allow a range of interpretations between stopped motion and motion-suggesting blur. Zoom in close and the water can be the entire subject, or work from a bit more distance and incorporate the surrounding terrain. Choose your time of day and get warm or cool coloration. Photograph at a time when the water reflects light on nearby objects and introduce a wider range of colors into the composition.

During our one-week stay high in the Eastern Sierra we were fortunate to have many opportunities to photograph water, ranging from many nearby alpine lakes to the abundant creeks and cascades that were still flowing despite the rather late date in the season. One evening I wandered a few hundred feet down below our base camp to this area where I had walked this creek a day or two earlier, and I spent a good deal of time photographing it.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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