Tag Archives: national park

Another Epic Sierra Round Trip

The time was ripe this weekend for a visit to Yosemite Valley and perhaps other places, so a two-day photo trip was in order. As is sometimes the case when I do these short up-and-back runs, some things happened according to plan and others, uh, evolved.

I left the SF Bay Area at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. The plan was to head to the Valley early and then possibly get on the wait list for a camp spot with the rest of the plan being to shoot spring subjects there for a couple days. Continue reading Another Epic Sierra Round Trip

El Capitan, Morning

El Capitan, Morning

El Capitan, Morning. Yosemite Valley, California. May 10, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light illuminates a small portion of the vertical face of El Capitan, Yosemite Valley.

While photographing the oaks in El Capitan Meadow in early May I decide to point my lens up towards the vertical face of El Capitan. In the full size version of this print you can pick out a number of climbers in various places across the cliff.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Middle Cathedral and El Capitan Meadow, Spring

Lower Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan Meadow, Spring

Lower Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan Meadow, Spring. Yosemite Valley, California. May 10, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early spring view of the trees and new grass of El Capitan with the lower face of Middle Cathedral and the Yosemite Valley rim beyond.

El Capitan Meadow is one of my favorite places to photograph in Yosemite – at just about any time of year, at any time of day, and in any conditions. This photograph was made on a beautiful early spring morning as the new spring growth was just beginning to show – the grasses are just coming up in the meadow and the trees are beginning to leaf out. Beyond the meadow is the smooth face of Middle Cathedral facing the morning light, and beyond that is a shaded portion of the south Valley rim.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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New Post at California Nature Photography Blog

I just authored a new post at the jointly-authored California Nature Photography blog (“Dogwoods in the Valley”), in which I share five of my dogwood bloom photographs from my early May trip to Yosemite Valley along with some discussion of the photographs.