Tag Archives: outcropping

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

The Urban Wilderness

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The Urban Wilderness
People climb on a rock outcropping at The Lake, Central Park, New York City.

The Urban Wilderness. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

People climb on a rock outcropping at The Lake, Central Park, New York City.

This photograph comes from a well-known, popular rock outcropping along the shore of The Lake in Manhattan’s Central Park. I made the photograph on an October morning as we killed time before heading to the airport for our flight back to the West Coast. We wandered across the park, down the East Side to the Columbus Day parade, and then back to our hotel. One thing that struck me about this scene was how familiar the appearance of the people climbing the rocks was — I could find a similar scene in the Sierra..

I enjoy the parallels between photography of the urban and natural worlds. There’s no denying that they are rather different, but I think there are similarities,. too, and I’m able to apply my experience photographing the natural world to urban photography. It is possible to see the human presence in the city as almost a kind of wildlife — and photographing people and wild life can be challenging in similar ways. The city also presents a landscape, and the same principles that work in wilderness can work here, too. ( I sometimes think that the particular landscape in this photograph, with those ridiculously tall and slender buildings, may have more I’m common with movie depictions of cities on distant planets!)

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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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Red Rock Outcropping

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Red Rock Outcropping
A variety of plantlife growing on a red rock outcropping, Zion National Park.

Red Rock Outcropping. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A variety of plantlife growing on a red rock outcropping, Zion National Park.

Utah red rock country is full of little vignettes like this one, no matter where you are. the photograph comes from Zion National Park, but it could have been made in any number of other locations where the sandstone formations appear. This California photographer, used to the relatively gray tones of Sierra granite, cannot get enough of the wild colors of this state.

I made this photograph on a morning when we drove across Zion National Park highlands on the Mt. Carmel Highway. Changes along this route, which can only assume the park service regards as improvements, have made photography considerably more difficult here. Many places where I used to be able to pull over and photograph are now off limits. That problem aside, we still did find places to stop and photograph in the brilliant morning sun, a very different experience than photographing in Zion Canyon or other deep and shaded places.

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Outcropping and Reflection

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Outcropping and Reflection
The reflection of a massive outcropping at the edge of an alpine lake nestled in a rocky Sierra Nevada basin.

Outcropping and Reflection. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The reflection of a massive outcropping at the edge of an alpine lake nestled in a rocky Sierra Nevada basin.

Back in the summer of 2013 a group of us spent a week base-camped within a five minute walk of this feature and an entire landscape filled with equivalent wonders. It was a high place (roughly 12,000′) filled with lakes and surrounded by forests of small trees and rocky slopes and peaks. We spent that week getting to know this area intimately and photographing it in all kinds of light and conditions.

I suppose that most people must have a carry in their minds a visual symbol for their special places — perhaps a giant tree, a waterfall, a coastal bluff, and so on. When it comes to the Sierra Nevada, the image that comes to mind is usually a high place much like this one, where the trees begin to thin, lakes are often rockbound, and talus slopes rise to alpine ridges and peaks.

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 and Amazon.

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

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Outcropping, Meadow, Evening

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Outcropping, Meadow, Evening
Evening light on rocky outcropping, meadow, forest covered mountains, Yosemite National Park

Outcropping, Meadow, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on rocky outcropping, meadow, forest covered mountains, Yosemite National Park.

I am generally intrigued by rocky outcroppings that interrupt meadows, and Tuolumne Meadows is a fine place to go looking for them. There are several there that I visit repeatedly and that I’ve been coming back to for many years. In fact, there is one that is my traditional “goodbye to summer” spot, where I typically pause and take one last look at the summer (or, by then, autumn) view of the area, consider the upcoming winter, and speculate about the coming summer.

I saw the light on this little section of rocks on a prior evening, and noted how it lined up with the more distant domes, ridges, and peaks, but I was just a bit too late to photograph it. I resolved to come back the next night and try to photograph it. I almost didn’t make it. Just before it was time to leave my campsite to go to this spot, a fellow from a nearby campsite wandered over and wanted to talk. A lot. Nice guy, but I finally had to tell him that I had an appointment with some evening light!

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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