Tag Archives: national

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dawn Reflections

August 12, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The quiet morning surface of a subalpine lake reflects the slopes of a Sierra Nevada mountain

In early August I had the opportunity to join a group of friends for a brief backpack trip up to the Sierra Crest in the Hoover Wilderness Area along the northeastern Yosemite boundary. We packed a lot of variety into a short trip — starting at the lower end of an east side canyon and culminating along the still-snowy crest, experiencing typical Sierra summer blue sky and hours of heavy rain, seeing beautiful wildflower displays fed by strong run-off streams, and dealing with the inevitable clouds of mosquitos. This wasn’t primarily a photographic expedition for me, but almost any backcountry travel is going to include some photography, so I carried a smaller and lighter kit that still allowed me to photograph a few things.

I made this photograph very early in the morning. The rest of my group did not share my early morning habits, so when I got up and left my tent before dawn I was alone. I walked to the top of a nearby promontory from which I could overlook the lake and its surroundings as the first light arrived. I am always struck by the immense quiet and stillness found in such places in the very early morning. The air was still and the lake’s surface smooth — no one else was yet out and about, and nothing was moving aside from an occasional fish rising to feed. As the sun slowing spread across the shoulder of the peak on the other side of the lake I photographed for nearly an hour before returning to camp, where my hiking partners were just beginning to stir.

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

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

Low Tide, Fog, Drakes Estero

August 5, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thinning fog above Drakes Estero at low tide

I spend a mid-July day hiking — at least once I had completed my obligatory bakery stop at Point Reyes Station — a route at Point Reyes National Seashore that I’ve had my eyes on for some time. It is a trail that starts in the upper recesses of Drakes Estero and, if you turn at the right junctions, finally goes all the way to headlands above Drakes Bay. I had, in fact, started this hike at least once in the past, but always a bit spontaneously and too late in the day, and each time I had turned back before completing it. This time I planned more carefully, and I was on the trail in plenty of time to complete the round trip.

This is a spare landscape, mostly without the vertical scale of places like the Sierra or even of the Big Sur coastline. Bare bluffs run along the peninsula that runs out toward the actual “point,” and the view extends more in the horizontal than the vertical direction. But what it lacks in vertical relief, this landscape can make up for as a canvas on which effects of atmosphere and light may play. My plan was to begin my hike at about the time the morning fog broke up, and to then follow the fog/sun line as in moved toward the coast. I was not entirely successful (it never did clear at the coast) but I timed it just about right for the start of the walk. This photograph comes from that early section of the route, when the clear sky above the dissipating clouds reflected its blue color onto the waters of the estero.

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

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Tidal Flat Reflections

July 31, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Blue sky reflected in channels on tide flats, Point Reyes National Seashore

In late July I spent a day at Point Reyes National Seashore, a location that is probably just within a reasonable one-day out-and-back drive for me. (And, yes, on occasion I indulge in completely unreasonable drives to photograph certain special subjects, but that’s a story for a different post.) From looking at weather forecasts, I was hopeful that I would arrive early enough to grab a fresh pastry at Point Reyes Station (success!), make it out to the Seashore before the fog cleared (success!), and then photograph as it cleared away (less success!). I never did break completely out of the fog, and the final destination of my daylong hike was pretty thoroughly socked in.

But along the way there was some interesting light, combined with some fortunate timing. My hike took me along Drakes Estero, the large, shallow estuary that extends inland from the beaches surrounding Drakes Bay. I had not checked the tides before going, but it turned out that I arrived at a rather low tide, and the water had retreated far enough to leave the mudflats high and dry, broken only by twisting channels where a bit of water remained. The fog directly overhead darkened the mud flats, but the water reflected the blue sky from an area of clearing further in the distance. Once again, it was good fortune that made a photograph possible — these abstract blue patterns could only occur at low tide, with fog overhead, and with blue sky at the fog/clear boundary nearby.

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

Estero de Limantour

July 26, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A foggy day at Estero de Limantour, as viewed from Drakes Head, Point Reyes National Seashore

This post is a bit about this photograph and a bit about the experiences that such photographs are embedded in. The location is a somewhat remote location at Point Reyes National Seashore — the hike out and back runs about 13 miles or so. I have wanted to visit this spot for a number of years, but every time I have started the hike it has been too late in the day to complete the round-trip, or else I was distracted by other photographic opportunities along the way and I did not get all the way to the destination. This time I arrived early enough and got on the trail right away, and I did not stop too much along the way.

What did I find at the end of this long walk? The trail ends dramatically with a slight rise to a high point on a promontory overlooking Estero de Limantour far below, and the expanse of Drakes Bay beyond that. Or so I imagine. When I got there it was very foggy and extremely windy, and at times the water in this photograph was obscured by fog. Because the clouds had been breaking up further inland I decided to wait here in anticipation that the clearing would make it all the way to the coast. After waiting for an hour and a half (!) the fog began to lift and I could start to make out the water beyond the sandy island running along the shoreline. I jumped up and made preparations for the glorious breakup of the clouds… and then the wind picked up, the fog closed in, and it began to drizzle! I made this photograph during a slightly clearer moment. Before I loaded up the pack for the hike back I remembered that great light doesn’t always arrive, that you must be out there a lot if you expect to see it when it happens, if you are out there a lot you will experience lots of “failures,” and that even on a day that might not be optimally photographic there is nothing at all wrong with spending and hour and a half on a windswept bluff engulfed by ocean fog.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: national

Dawn Reflections

Low Tide, Fog, Drakes Estero

Tidal Flat Reflections

Estero de Limantour

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