Tag Archives: national

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Small Tree, Granite, Morning Sun

December 3, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small pine finds a foothold in a small crack on an immense glacier-sculpted granite slab, Yosemite National Park

This photograph is connected to quite a few others that I have posted recently, and in multiple ways. One of the subjects that I focused on during our time photographing at this Yosemite backcountry location was the many small trees growing tenuously in small cracks and pockets in this large bowl of granite and among nearby granite slabs. It seems almost a rule that in the natural world something will manage to find a way to grow in almost any location where growth is remotely possible. These trees certainly seem to illustrate that idea, as they sometimes seem to have nothing more than a thin crack in otherwise solid granite in which to put down roots. This one grows part way up the incline of a sloping bowl that faces west, so the morning light doesn’t arrive until rather late. I photographed as the line of sunlight worked its way across the tree and toward the textured slabs beyond.

I have heard a photographer friend humorously refer to photographs like this as “brave little tree” shots. It certainly is a popular concept. While I often like to think that photographs may speak simply as images whose components of light and texture and shape and color evoke an emotional response, it doesn’t escape my notice that photographs also, partially through the expectation that photographs contain true images of things, may also resonate in other ways — and that a “brave little tree” may evoke connections to other “brave little” things and ideas, and that these associations may be personal and specific to each viewer.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn Oak Leaves, Utah

December 2, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fallen oak leaves on the moist floor of a Utah canyon

I found these newly fallen autumn oak leaves at the bottom of a narrow canyon in the southern Utah back-country. The spot is a sort of “half Subway” (referencing the iconic location in Zion National Park — though this is not near there) with a tube-like formation cut into the rock on one side of the narrow canyon as the creek is forced to bend around massive rocks. Near the end of this curve is a section of smooth red rock that must have a spring above, since water seems to drip down it continuously.

All of these factors created a very unusual and striking little vignette in this spot. The tan leaves are dry, and lighter than the underlying rock. The rock is actually within the typical range of red canyon rock, though perhaps tending a bit toward burgundy coloration. But the colors a skewed by several other factors. Being at the bottom of a deep canyon, the light here has taken on the warm red quality from reflecting off of the canyon walls. Mixed in with that red is some blue reflected from the band of open blue sky straight above. A close look reveals some sharper reflections from brightly lit areas high on the canyon walls.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Granite Shoreline, Sunset Peak

December 1, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The last sunset light shines on a granite peak above granite outcroppings along a forest-lined subalpine lake, Yosemite National Park

On the day after a long hike to our destination at a high subalpine lake, where we set up camp and settled in for a longish stay, we had gotten up on this morning and started the work of photographing here. The day began early, before sunrise, as we made our first get-acquainted photographs along the shoreline of the lake and then continued to photograph in to the morning hours. As is typical, we returned to camp once the beautiful morning light was replaced by the less compelling light of midday, where we enjoyed the camp rituals of sitting around and talking, sharing meals, taking care of camp chores, and formulating plans for evening photography. After (a very early) dinner, the late afternoon light was about to become interesting, and it was time to head out once again.

As is usually the case (and almost the necessity) among landscape photographers, we each mostly worked alone — though we also encountered one another at times as we wandered the area. We continued shooting as late afternoon turned toward early evening, with shadows lengthening and the color of the light warming. A few benign clouds appeared above nearby ridges as I photographed in quiet forested areas along the lake. The sun dropped toward the horizon, deepening the shadows where I was working, so I moved to a more open area where I could see a small granite peninsula, lakeside trees, and unnamed peaks on the ridge to the east as the last sun touched their summits and the light reflected on the lake’s surface. I made a few final photographs, the light faded, and I walked back towards camp in the evening quiet as darkness arrived.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Roots and Rock

November 30, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dried roots of a desert plant wind across bare sandstone

On the scale of “plants trying to survive in hostile locations,” this one seems almost off the scale. It seemed to me that the plant had died, but I could be wrong and it might simply have been dormant. However, apparently in an effort to find water and nourishment, it had gone to extreme efforts. The plant was rooted in a small, shallow depression in the rock that is filled with sand. From there it had grown onto the rock and then continued to stretch in that direction until it was mostly on the hard surface of sandstone.

I was intrigued by the growth pattern of the plant itself, but I was also fascinated by the form of its barren gray branches (or roots?) as they stretched across the rock, and by the complex relationships between the plant’s form and the lines and texture of the rock.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: national

Small Tree, Granite, Morning Sun

Autumn Oak Leaves, Utah

Granite Shoreline, Sunset Peak

Roots and Rock

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