Tag Archives: olmsted

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

Trees and Granite, Morning Light

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Trees and Granite, Morning Light - First morning light on trees and granite slabs near Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.
First morning light on trees and granite slabs near Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.

Trees and Granite, Morning Light. Yosemite National Park, California. August 12, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First morning light on trees and granite slabs near Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.

I made this photograph a year ago, almost exactly, in August of 2011, while on a trip of several days devoted to photographing the High Sierra, mostly in the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite. A year later I do not remember all of the details of this morning, though I recall that I had gone very early to the Olmsted Point area to photograph the glacial erratic boulders and some rugged trees growing on the granite slabs found in the area. Perhaps this was among the first photographs I made, before heading off to shoot my primary subject, since the series it comes from includes the very first light to strike these trees, while its angle was still small enough to hit the trees but not the rock.

When I came upon this photograph in the old raw file archive this week, one thing that struck me is the fact that it does include a Yosemite icon (seen from an iconic angle that is often photographed), yet that icon is almost an afterthought and most certainly not the primary subject of the photograph. I posted something here yesterday about photographing icons (“Photographing Icons or Not”), and one of the ideas that you might take away from that post is that it is possible to see iconic sights in ways that do not necessarily repeat the familiar iconic views. (Not to fear, I have the iconic view of this subject, too.) I’m willing to bet that I was thinking a whole lot more about the warm first light on the foreground trees, the way it contrasted with the cooler blue tones of the deep canyon and shadowed ridges beyond, and the texture and shapes of the foreground granite slabs that are so characteristic of this part of the Sierra.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.

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

Trees and Evening Sky

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Trees and Evening Sky - Trees silhouetted against cloud-filled evening sky, Yosemite National Park.
Trees silhouetted against cloud-filled evening sky, Yosemite National Park.

Trees and Evening Sky. Yosemite National Park, California. June 18, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees silhouetted against cloud-filled evening sky, Yosemite National Park.

The last time I posted a photograph of more or less this scene, the colors were so bright that you almost needed sunglasses! The photograph was made on an evening that ultimately turned into one of the most astonishingly colorful ones I have experienced in the Sierra – and I have experienced a few! Although that evening began with what most might regard as extraordinarily unpromising light – murky haze and overcast – I had an idea that these might be just the conditions in which the sun drops below the edge of the clouds far to the west just before sunset and then lights the clouds from beneath, a situation that can suddenly turn the sky into a psychedelic kaleidoscope of colors.

Eventually that is just what happened. But this photograph was made just before that show began, or perhaps during the very first stages of it when it was not at all certain what might develop. There were high, thin clouds in the sky to the west, and they began to glow a bit with evening backlight, so I lined up this little group of trees on the granite slabs and photographed them in silhouette against the sky. A few minutes later… it was not going to be time to be making black and white photographs!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Evening Fog, Autumn

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Evening Fog, Autumn
Evening Fog, Autumn

Evening Fog, Autumn. Yosemite National Park, California. October 5, 2008. © Copyright 2008 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening fog forms on an autumn evening above a ridge near Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.

I made this photograph on a memorable evening back in 2008 while returning to the SF Bay Area from several days of autumn aspen photography on the east side of the Sierra. After shooting aspen subjects like crazy for several days, I more or less thought that my photography for this trip was finished as I ascending Tioga Pass to enter the park on my way home. In fact, I didn’t really do much photography around the pass or at Tuolumne. But as I drove I noticed that low clouds were forming over peaks and ridges, created by condensation in very moist post-rain air as the temperature dropped quickly as sunset approached. Now this was starting to seem a bit interesting!

As I came to Olmsted Point the clouds were so thick that I couldn’t really see a thing. You never know for sure how these atmospheric conditions are going to develop, and while part of me was disappointed that perhaps there would not be a photography opportunity, another part of me (the tired part!) was almost a bit relieved that I could perhaps get on with task of driving home. But as I rounded the very next bend, where the road rises to a high point just west of Olmsted, things opened up just a bit and light from a clear area a bit further to the west was making the fog glow a bit. So, with a combination of reluctance and excitement, I pulled over, hoisted my gear, and walked off into the forest and granite landscape to make this photograph.

(After making this one, I was certain that my work was done, as the light was fading fast. As fate would have it, a mile or two further on there was a tremendous view of the fog filled valley below, in soft dusk light and with Clouds Rest looming above. Yup, had to stop one more time for that one, too…)

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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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.

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

Granite and Trees, Olmsted Point

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Granite and Trees, Olmsted Point
Granite and Trees, Olmsted Point

Granite and Trees, Olmsted Point. Yosemite National Park, California. July 24, 2006. © Copyright 2006 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lone trees stand among glacial erratics on granite slabs near Olmsted Point as evening light strikes Clouds Rest and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park.

This photograph was made near the popular and iconic Olmsted Point along Tioga Pass Road (highway 120) across the Sierra through Yosemite National Park. The spot is a short walk from the busy parking lot, but even this five or ten minute stroll was enough to get me some relative solitude on this summer evening.

The combination of close granite slabs, glacial erratics lying about, more distant domes and peaks, and a few scattered trees says “Yosemite” to me in ways that are more true than even the iconic scenes from The Valley. Almost every area of the high country was shaped by glaciers, and all of these things are a direct result of that origin. Another thing that I like about this photograph, ironically, is that there is really nothing all that special about it! There are a few high, thin clouds – but no towering thunderheads. The light is warming as the end of the day approaches – but this is not yet prime golden hour light. And although at least one icon appears in the scene, it is not even the dominant feature.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts when this page is viewed on the web. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)