Tag Archives: nevada

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

Spring Torrent, Cascade Creek

May 15, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A torrent of water from melting spring snow rushed through a rocky section of Cascade Creek, Yosemite National Park.

During the early part of the seasonal spring snowmelt runoff, Cascade Creek is transformed into a wild and raging torrent as the lower elevation snow in the upper portion of its drainage begins to melt quickly. Contributing to the spectacular effect is the very steep path the creek follows down the walls of the Merced Canyon before it makes one final leap over a waterfall and then joins with the main Merced River.

This bit of creek is another of those places in the Sierra that I have come to know very well. There are certain places where I like to say that I know individual rocks and trees, and this is one of them. I photograph here several times each year during all seasons and in all kinds of light. But my favorite is the early morning spring light, before the sun rises high enough to directly illuminate the creek bed, when the creek is flowing madly and twisting and turning around and over boulders.

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

Dogwood Bloom and Leaves

May 12, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 10 Comments

An early dogwood blossom and leaves in Yosemite Valley, California.

This is another plant that I’m on a first name basis with. I know this particular dogwood rather well, having first been attracted to it one fall while walking along the north side of Yosemite Valley looking for leaves against rock. At that time the fall-color leaves of this dogwood tree were draped across the top of a low, flat boulder. When I’m in this part of the Valley, I often walk past this tree to see what it is doing. On this first weekend of May, the tree was just getting its first blossoms of the spring season, and I was able to clamber up on top of the boulder, set up my tripod, and make a few close-up photographs of the flowers.

I originally figured it would be a color photograph but as I worked on it I started to think it might be interesting in black and white, too. (You’ll get to decide – the color version will appear tomorrow.) Besides having to wait for the slight breeze to pause so that I could make a 1/8 second exposure, another challenge was the dynamic range between the bloom and the rather dark background. I tend to slightly underexpose the highlights, since digital capture is not kind to over-exposed whites. Then I work in post to bright the brightest parts back up to where I think they should be, but without letting anything blow out.

For dogwood fans, the “word on the street” had been that these flowers were coming along a bit later than usual this year. But on this day it seemed like they were suddenly starting to appear in many of the usual places in the Valley. I’m expecting them to peak between now and perhaps a week or so from now, and later on at higher elevations. One potential wrinkle is the possibility of snow in the Valley on Sunday!

Update: There is also a color version of this photograph.

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

Young Tree and Granite Wall

May 11, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A young tree grows against a granite wall along the north side of Yosemite Valley.

This tree (and its nearby oak partner) and I have become good friends over the past few years. I first photographed it in the fall some years back, though the oak made a better shot at that time given its fall color leaves. But every time I walk along a certain area under the cliffs on the north side of Yosemite Valley I check in here to see what the light is doing.

During the first weekend of May I was in the Valley for photography and to visit the reception for Michael Frye’s exhibit at the Ansel Adams Galley. After spending an enjoyable hour and a half or so viewing Michael’s prints and meeting and talking with a wonderful group of photographers and photography enthusiasts at the Gallery I left to go wander a bit and make some photographs. When I came to this spot, clouds were starting to appear in the late afternoon sky above the Valley. This is a kind of ideal light since these conditions soften but don’t completely destroy the sunlight, and diffused light gets down into the forest and fills out the shadows.

I love the texture of these huge blocks of flat granite, covered with lichen. I like the visual quality of this rock, but I also like the physical quality of it; this probably dates back to a time some years ago when I was a rock climber for a few years. So while the tree seems like the main subject here, the rock surface is for me just as important.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: White Mountains

From the Panamints to the Sierra, Evening

April 4, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Sierra Nevada in evening light as seen from Aguereberry Point in Death Valley National Park’s Panamint Range.

I made this photograph from Aguereberry Point shortly before sunset. Aguereberry Point is a lonely prominence over 6000′ above Death Valley, high in the Panamint Mountain range, a place of astonishing panoramic views – and often some significant winds. As I drove the gravel road to the point late in the afternoon I saw three or four other vehicles heading the other direction, but when I arrived at the point a bit more than an hour before sunset no one else was there.

Having photographed here a few times previously, I am becoming more familiar with the challenges and the opportunities of shooting here. One of the challenges – as is the case in many spots in Death Valley – is that certain subjects seem to be “photographable” at very specific times and only for short intervals. One of the most interesting views from Aguereberry is southeast down into Trail Canyon and on to the lower slopes of Wildrose Peak beyond. This is wild, rugged, austere terrain. However, because it lies on the east side of this range the light changes quickly from a washed out blast of daytime sun to sudden deep shadows as the sun drops behind the higher ridges of the Panamints. (Trail Canyon is not seen in this photograph.)

Another challenge is that, impressive and overwhelming as the scale of this grand scene is, it can be difficult to pull interesting compositions out of it. I tend to work with longer lenses here, both to isolate smaller areas out of the huge landscape and to compress distance. In this photograph, the silhouetted crest of the highest part of the Sierra Nevada range is on the horizon, with the intervening ridges of the Panamint Range and others probably including the Inyo Mountains and the ridge just west of Panamint Valley.

And, since I tend towards those large and long lenses… wind is an issue! And on top of Aguereberry Point there is nothing to stop the often strong winds of Death Valley. On this evening the winds were howling, so I found a spot below some rocks where it was a bit less windy and then spent a lot time waiting for momentary lulls in the wind when I could make photographs.

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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.