Tag Archives: national

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

Winter Ferns and Log

February 20, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Dormant winter ferns against a decaying log, Yosemite Valley, California.

The story behind finding this little bit of landscape is perhaps best not fully told – but I’ll share little background. I had driven west along Northside Drive in Yosemite Valley in the morning looking for bits of interesting light that can crop up even in the middle of the day during winter in that deep canyon. I had just made some photographs of the Cathedral Rocks area and decided it was time to move on. As I wandered back to the car I decided to, uh, “take a short walk into the woods” on the other side of the road. While there I noticed that some interesting dry ferns were peeking up from under the melting snow, so I decide to look around a bit more in this rather nondescript bit of forest. I finally found one little cluster of ferns that were arranged against the backdrop of an old decaying log and decided to make a few photographs of it before heading back to the car and moving on.

I like several things about this photograph, but among them is the fact that it isn’t an obvious “Yosemite photo” at all. In fact, you could find a similar sort of subject in any number of places if you just look carefully enough – which in Yosemite often means looking away from those iconic and quite obvious subjects from time to time.

(And, yes, it was intentional that I posted this photographic “homage” on February 20, the birthday of Ansel Adams. :-)

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

keywords: yosemite, national, park, valley, california, usa, north america, nature, winter, fern, plant, foliage, leaf, branch, log, wood, decay, texture, black and white, monochrome, forest, stock, curve, pattern

News

Death Valley Delayed

February 9, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Earlier this winter I had evolved a plan to visit Death Valley earlier in the year than I usually do – I was planning on going later this week. However, as the season as unfolded it has turned out to be a very wet one in DEVA NP. According to reports (including this one) many roads are closed or washed out, including those to some of the places I was planning to visit. While the wet conditions also bring some special and unusual opportunities (including landscapes with reflections in ponds), at this point I’m going to hold off and reschedule my visit for the end of March.

By that time there is a good chance that more of the closed areas will have reopened. I have a hunch that this might also end up being a special year for wildflowers – and if I’m lucky I might manage to be there at right about the best time.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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

Locations

Web Publishing Experiment – Draft of the Next Death Valley Post

January 30, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I decided to try a little web-publishing experiment with part 2 of my series of posts on photographing Death Valley National Park – I’m sharing the draft publicly as I write it. I decided to try this for several reasons.

It is prime DeVa photography season now and for the next couple of months, and some people may find the information useful before I’m ready to release the final version.
There are lots of you who have DeVa experience of your own, and perhaps your comments and feedback may improve the post.
Maybe, just maybe, someone might be interested in watching the evolution of the post. I can flatter myself, right? :-)

To find out more take a look at the current version of the draft, where I’ve added a few words of explanation.

Locations

Photographing Death Valley – Part 1

January 20, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 17 Comments

This material concerning Death Valley is unavailable while revisions are underway. Thanks for your understanding. In the meantime, I will respond to comments left on this page.

(Update 3/22/13: The planned update to this article has been long-delayed, and for that I apologize. It turns out that the way I want to approach the subject in the revised version is a bit more complicated than I expected. I had anticipated completing an update in early 2013, but I decided to wait until after this year’s shoot in Death Valley so that I would write with that experience fresh in my mind.)

Also, more (but not all!) of my Death Valley photography is found here: https://gdanmitchell.com/gallery/v/NaturalWorld/TheLandscape/Desert/DeathValley/

(Note: After a conversation with a friend who is a retired Yosemite ranger, in which he articulately explained why he has concerns about sharing overly specific information about sensitive and fragile places too widely, I have decided to revise this article about photographing Death Valley. The goal is to remove some of the unnecessarily specific details about places that don’t need a lot more publicity, and to let photographers who are new this wonderful park learn about it the way I did and continue to do – by slowly exploring and adding to my knowledge and experience of the place rather than looking for a quick list of the “great shots.” I hope you’ll understand.

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.

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