Tag Archives: muir

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Late-Season Color, Lake and Mountains

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Late-Season Color, Lake and Mountains
Late-season color surrounds a subalpine lake beneath talus fields and cliff

Late-Season Color, Lake and Mountains. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late-season color surrounds a subalpine lake beneath talus fields and cliff

This lake was just “up the block” from our campsite in the Sierra backcountry this past September. We were there in roughly the third week of the month, base-camped near a lake from which we could explore large areas of the surrounding territory. These surroundings were filled with an abundance of small lake, forest, and plenty of rocky scenery, from talus fields to high peaks.

On several evenings I wandered up the path from our campsite in order to get to nearby lakes that lay at a somewhat higher elevation. These lakes were still surrounded by trees, albeit increasingly small trees and often with space between them. This lake had a lovely growth of tall grasses along its inlet stream, and here I have photographed it against the background of a huge cliff that was nearby.

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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

Wildflowers, Meadow, Peaks

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Wildflowers, Meadow, Peaks
Wildflowers carpet a meadow leading to John Muir Wilderness peaks

Wildflowers, Meadow, Peaks. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Wildflowers carpet a meadow leading to John Muir Wilderness peaks

I made this photograph just steps from where we were camped for a week during a prior (and much wetter!) summer. If you were at this location at the end of July in a more typical year you would likely see a lot of brown beginning to appear in the meadow. But this had been a year of record-breaking winter precipitation, and everything was still green.

There were also wildflowers everywhere. (Mosquitos, too, of course — the two go hand in hand in the high country!) This is something of an unusual composition for me, with a wide-angle lens placing the very close flowers in the same frame with the very distant alpine ridge standing in bright morning light against a perfect blue sky.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Wild Onion Flowers

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Wild Onion Flowers
Wild onion plants blossoming in a meadow below Sierra Nevada peaks

Wild Onion Flowers. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Wild onion plants blossoming in a meadow below Sierra Nevada peaks

This week-long (plus!) visit to the Sierra backcountry came during a summer following a record-setting wet season in California. This was more special than usual, as the five years before that had been a period of intense and historically unprecedented drought conditions. During those earlier years a visit to this location at this time of year would have seen dry meadows, almost no wildflowers, and missing snow fields. Given that backdrop, the lush green landscape was extra special.

Even at this late date the wildflowers were abundant and lush. By the end of our stay a few sections of some open meadows were showing just a bit of brown. In may seem surprising, but the purple swamp onion flowers are among my favorite in the Sierra. The plants are lush and green, they typically grow in wet areas, and the flowers are colorful. But more than that is the special surprise of coming upon the fragrance of fresh, wild onions in the backcountry.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tree, Lake, Reflected Mountains

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Tree, Lake, Reflected Mountains
A solitary tree, subalpine meadows, lake, and reflection of Sierra Nevada peaks

Tree, Lake, Reflected Mountains. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary tree, subalpine meadows, lake, and reflection of Sierra Nevada peaks

For this photograph I again travel back almost a full year, to a late summer photographic adventure into the High Sierra with a group of friends. We had much of our bulky and heavy equipment packed into this remote spot, though we carried our photographic equipment in on our backs. We remained here for about a week, with lots of time to explore and photograph the surrounding landscape.

The closest feature of interest was the meadow holding this subalpine lake. (We camped behind my camera position and on a rise that kept us out of the meadow. ) Early and late in the day the light around this lake could be beautiful, and I made this photograph in the morning while the water was still and the light slanted in from the east and left dramatic shadows on the landscape.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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