Tag Archives: negit

Negit Island, Mono Lake

Negit Island, Mono Lake
“Negit Island, Mono Lake” — Tufa formations along the shoreline of Mono Lake with Negit Island in the distance.

In a recent Mono Lake post I mused about finding and photographing less familiar views of this magnificent place. But I also mentioned that sometimes I do stop and photograph the well-known locations when the opportunity arises. With that in mind, I acknowledge that this photograph was made at one of the familiar places along the western shore of the lake. Heck, there’s even a place there to pull in, pay a fee, have a picnic, and take a hike!

The photograph encompasses a whole lot of “Mono Basin stuff.” Let’s start in the foreground with the dry shoreline vegetation adapted to tolerate the salty soil, and the small tufa structures in the water just offshore. The dark form in the distance is Negit Island, one of two volcanic islands in the lake. And in the far distant haze (the haze is also a feature of the place) we see desert mountains rising as the basins and range country of Nevada takes over.


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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Mono Lake, Mountains, Morning

Mono Lake, Mountains, Morning
“Mono Lake, Mountains, Morning” — Early morning autumn light on Mono Lake and distant desert mountains.

Part of the challenge of photographing a familiar subject is finding a different perspective on it. This is especially true with “iconic” subjects that everyone has seen, and which we know by way of familiar views. If you think about any famous place you can probably visualize the scenes I’m thinking of — familiar views of familiar things. (I’m not against them. In fact, it is an interesting challenge to try to make those views different.) There are several familiar approaches to photographing Mono Lake. Yes, I’ve done them, too!

But this is not one of those familiar views. For one thing, the camera position here is not one that most people visiting the lake would think of or even know about. It is a pretty good distance from the lake — in fact the photograph was made with a very long lens. It is also elevated, up in mountains where sage meets aspens. I photographed in the early morning on a clear day, when the low morning sunlight was angling across the landscape from the right.


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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Mono Lake, Autumn Haze

Mono Lake, Autumn Haze
Haze settles over the expanse of Mono Lake on an autumn morning.

Mono Lake, Autumn Haze. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Haze settles over the expanse of Mono Lake on an autumn morning.

On this autumn morning I began photographing at Mono Lake well before dawn. My main idea was to work from a particular spot that has interesting shoreline contours and views towards distant peaks, starting when I could photograph the light of the intensely colorful pre-sunrise sky reflecting on the lake’s surface. I did that, and I stuck around just until the sun cleared those distant mountains — then I moved on to photograph the lake in more “normal” daytime light.

I initially went to this spot hoping to photograph some thin fog that was trying to establish itself along the lake’s shoreline, where cool autumn air flowed over the warmer lake waters. As I considered the scene I became more interested in the silhouettes of the distant island and hills, many miles away, and the textures and patterns formed by morning breezes on the surface of the immense lake.


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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Mono Lake Islands, Morning

Mono Lake Islands, Morning
Morning light and haze on Negit and Paoho Islands, Mono Lake and Mono Basin.

Mono Lake Islands, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light and haze on Negit and Paoho Islands, Mono Lake and Mono Basin.

There are many ways to look at Mono Lake, and a seemingly infinite number of viewpoints to use to take those looks. Many of the most common spots are along the western shoreline, not far from US 395. Not far behind are some of the better known tufa formations. But this is a huge lake and its visual presence is part of the experience throughout the Mono Basin and nearby portions of the Eastern Sierra. Wander about this greater landscape a bit and you’ll inevitably find new and often surprising ways to see the lake and its two volcanic islands.

Since there are so many vista points, the specific identity of any one of them seems somewhat beside the point. In this case I was in a high, quiet, and pleasantly lonely area along the eastern front of the Sierra very early in the morning, which gave me a higher perspective and let me clearly see the major mountains beyond the lake to the east. As the photograph was made in autumn, the typical haze in the atmosphere muted the details of the distant mountains.


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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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