Tag Archives: october

Micheal Frye: Color Light and Form Exhibit at the Ansel Adams Gallery

Micheal Frye (author of the well-known book on photographing in Yosemite, “The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite”) reports at his web site that the Ansel Adams Gallery in The Valley will feature an exhibit of his work, “Color Light and Form,” from August 20 through October 4, with a reception for Frye on Friday, August 28th, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Cascade in Lee Vining Canyon, Autumn Snow (black and white)

Cascade in Lee Vining Canyon, Autumn Snow (black and white)

Cascade in Lee Vining Canyon, Autumn Snow (black and white). Sierra Nevada, California. October 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cascade on Lee Vining Creek on an autumn afternoon following an early snowfall.

I’ll make the text short this time since yesterday’s post included the same photo – and the backstory – in color. So this is a black and white version of the same photograph from Lee Vining Canyon. I thought I’d try this since a) there wasn’t really a lot of color in the scene and b) the “cold” effect of the scene seems to work fairly well either way.

keywords: lee vining, creek, canyon, cascade, water, fall, waterfall, blur, motion, forest, ice, snow, fall, autumn, fall, october, cold, tree, bush, rock, boulder, log, scenic, travel, landscape, stock, california, usa, sierra, nevada, tioga, pass, yosemite, national park, black and white

Cascade in Lee Vining Canyon, Autumn Snow

Cascade in Lee Vining Canyon, Autumn Snow

Cascade in Lee Vining Canyon, Autumn Snow. Sierra Nevada, California. October 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cascade on Lee Vining Creek on an autumn afternoon following an early snowfall.

On my second trip to the eastern Sierra this fall – a much less successful trip than the first one a week earlier – I visited Lee Vining Canyon in the late afternoon, after the sun had retreated behind the very high peaks around Tioga Pass, leaving the bottom of the canyon in shadow. My last stop in the canyon was at this well-known cascade near the Bend campground. I did several long exposures of the cascade so that the water would diffuse. As you can see, the fall foliage here was less spectacular than in some other years, but the recent snow on the branches and the creek bank along with the frozen water under the overhang at the upper right created a wintery quality in the scene.

keywords: lee vining, creek, canyon, cascade, water, fall, waterfall, blur, motion, forest, ice, snow, fall, autumn, fall, october, cold, tree, bush, rock, boulder, log, scenic, travel, landscape, stock, california, usa, sierra, nevada, tioga, pass, yosemite, national park

Fog, Trees, and Rocks at Sunset – Olmsted Point

Fog, Trees, and Rocks at Sunset - Olmsted Point

Fog, Trees, and Rocks at Sunset – Olmsted Point. Yosemite National Park, California. October 5, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening fog forms over rocky forest near Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.

Another unexpected photograph from my trip to the eastern Sierra to photograph aspens during the first weekend of October. Late on Sunday afternoon I made a spontaneous change in plans and instead of heading north to return to the Bay Area over Monitor Pass (and photograph the aspens on the top of the pass at sunset) I decided to instead head home over Tioga Pass and through the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite. To be honest, the fact that the drive would be at least an hour shorter was probably the major factor. As I crossed Tioga Pass nothing really caught my attention as a photographic subject so I kept going. I passed through Tuolumne just a bit too late for any of the photos I had in mind – the light was just a bit too far gone on the meadow itself – so again I kept going.

Soon I noticed some thin fog-like clouds forming around some of the higher peaks. It occurred to me that this was probably from moist air from the previous day’s rain/snow condensing as the temperature dropped, and I began to suspect that something interesting and surprising just might happen to the atmosphere. As I arrived at Tenaya Lake a fog bank lay ahead at Olmsted Point. I chuckled to myself as I drove past this famous viewpoint for admiring Half Dome, now with a view that extended about 100 feet into the thick fog. However, a couple hundred yards further up the road I realized that the fog was very thin above this ridge and that the setting sun was softly illuminating the forest and rocky outcroppings beneath the fog. I quickly pulled over, grabbed my pack and tripod and charged up a nearby hillside into the forest, trying to find a spot where a bit of this light was still shining – and realizing that I had only a moment to catch it.

keywords: fog, tree, rock, meadow, boulder, erratic, glacial, brush, mist, sunset, evening, twilight, october, fall, autumn, yosemite, national park, tioga, road, olmsted, point, landscape, scenic, stock, california, usa, mountains, sierra, nevada