Tag Archives: mountains

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Last Light, Stormy Sky

September 13, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dark storm clouds beyond meadows and Sierra Nevada peaks and ridges.

During our late August and early September foray into the John Muir Wilderness of the eastern Sierra Nevada we were fortunate to have “interesting” weather. While we had our share of typical Sierra blue sky days, we also had clouds, ranging from the sort that drift benignly across the sky to those that bring rain, hail, thunder and lightning. While the idea of dealing with rain, occasionally briefly heavy, in the backcountry might not sound all that appealing, from a photography point of view the weather almost always makes for more interesting conditions. It also provides a wonderful topic for camp conversations as we try to guess what will happen and when.

This evening’s conversation almost certainly involved both the beautiful light and the thunderstorm hovering beyond the ridge to our south, a storm that turned the sky dramatically darker beyond the light on the ridge. While our camp was more or less hidden in forest on top of a moraine — we try to minimize the visual intrusion of our camp on the landscape — we were repeatedly drawn to nearby open areas. Right below us was a lake and surrounding meadow, and not far above our location the trees thinned and the landscape opened up. This photograph was made from a meadow in that higher area, a place we visited repeatedly.

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

Photographs: Cascades, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Tree Line

September 11, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Near tree line in the North Cascades, Washington

I have been in the Seattle area for a few days — heading home later today — and getting out to do a bit of photography, with subjects ranging from downtown Seattle street photography to landscapes in the Cascades range. Yesterday the weather was looking good (sun!) and I had the full day free, so I headed up to the Artist Point area in the North Cascades near Mount Baker.

Familiarity with a particular mountain range, in my case the Sierra Nevada, makes the different characteristics of other ranges stand out. The Cascades and the Sierra are both spectacular mountain ranges, but the similarities largely end there. Several things always impress me about this Pacific Northwest mountain range: the suddenness of their rise above forested valleys, the quality of the atmosphere and light (from clouds and lower angle sunlight), the much wetter climate, the lack of granite, and the proximity of big glaciers — they often appear barely above the level of the highest trees and they cover the upper slopes of the highest peaks. (California glaciers are most vestigial, just large enough that we can happily claim to have a few.) This visit was brief — a matter of a few hours — but I managed to get out and wander a bit and make a few photographs. This small clump of trees was catching late-afternoon sunlight filtered through high clouds, with a backdrop of a large valley between my position and the slopes rising to Mount Baker.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Flowers, Trees, and Mountains

September 10, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A stream winds through a tree and flower-filled meadow holding a subalpine lake, with distant peaks, John Muir Wilderness

And, yes, yet another photograph from our end-of-August-start-of-September trip into the John Muir Wilderness backcountry, during which we spent more than a week photographing some very spectacular scenery and hanging out with a fine group of fellow photographers. Our camp was located on a moraine near the site of this photograph — a high spot with some visibility to a larger panorama, but also somewhat hidden from others who might pass by.

Below our camp was this meadow and the lake beyond. The conditions were very special — for the end of August and beginning of September the meadow was still very lush and green and the wildflowers were still thriving. There were all kinds of flowers in the meadow, but this photograph mostly features paintbrush flowers and plants.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

High Peaks, Evening Light

September 9, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Rugged peaks tower above canyons and glaciated ridges, John Muir Wilderness

This set of peaks is bound to figure in quite a few of the photographs that I’ll be sharing from our recent extended backcountry photography trip into the John Muir Wilderness of the Sierra Nevada. Because we were located on a high, open bench directly across the canyon from them they were a constant presence, visible virtually anywhere we walked.

This photograph was made from a location a few hundred feet higher than our camp. Ascending the valley above our camp revealed more and more spectacular country — large high meadows full of wildflowers, a steam winding down the mountainside and pooling in a small tarn in the middle of a meadow, and above that access to the whole upper basin. I made this photograph late in the day after climbing up the slopes a bit to get some elevation on the glaciated moraine and forest below, opening up the views to the south into this rugged area of valleys and ridges.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: mountains

Last Light, Stormy Sky

Tree Line

Meadow, Flowers, Trees, and Mountains

High Peaks, Evening Light

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