Tag Archives: park

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

The Big Trees

Image July 19, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Giant sequoias at Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park

With the Washburn fire in the news, many of us have been thinking about that fire, the fact that the Mariposa Grove has been in its path, the recent destruction of a significant percentage of Southern Sierra sequoias, the role of fire in forest life, and the changes wrought by human-caused climate change. This grove, along with almost all Sierra forests, has a symbiotic relationship with periodic wildfires. A disruption of that cycle — either through complete suppression or the resultant hot and destructive fires that feed on too much undergrowth, enhanced by the changing climate — is dangerous to the long-term health of forests.

Figuring out how to feel about wildfires is complicated. If you were brought up on Smokey the Bear telling us that all fires are bad, it was a revelation to later learn that this isn’t the whole truth. More recently, as we were coming to terms with the idea that fire plays a role in forest health, Sierra fires have become more frequent, larger, and far more destructive. The duration of the fire season is expanding, and the forests are being so badly damaged that some seem to not be coming back.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Rock, Flowing Water

Image July 17, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A Sierra stream flows around a rock, reflecting trees and sky.

You might think that when visiting a place with the spectacular scenic views found in Yosemite that I might find something a bit more… profound to photograph. Well, I do photograph those things, too. But these days I’m often more interested in looking for less-obvious things that perhaps have not ever been photographed. Like some rock sitting in an anonymous stream. But such rocks and such streams are as much a part of the experience of this place as the waterfalls, cliffs, and alpine peaks.

For years I had passed by a particular little bit of creek, glimpsed quickly as I passed by on my way to other places. On this day I finally stopped and took the time to poke around a bit here, and I made a few photographs of shallow water flowing over granite slabs. Here the water passes around a large rock that somehow ended up in the middle of the stream, and the moving surface of the creek reflects the surrounding forest, mountains, and the sky.

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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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Burned Forest

Image July 14, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A Yosemite National Park forest beginning its post-wildfire recovery..

This photograph comes from Yosemite National Park, and not far from the current wildfire in the Mariposa Grove area. There are “good fires” and “bad fires” — the former tend to burn loose stuff on the forest floor along with some small trees and other plants, while the later burn hot and climb into the crowns of the trees and often killing them. Most of the trees in a healthy forest will survive the good fires, but increasingly the forests are now faced with bad fires that cause tremendous destruction. A quick scan around this photograph reveals some dead young trees but also some remaining green branches that likely mark a tree that is going to survive.

Photographing wildfire sites has long been a challenge for me. Many years ago I simply regarded wildfires as evil, but today my view is more nuanced, and I accept that some fire occurs in healthy forests and, in fact, is necessary and good. The challenge photographically has been to see these scenes as being subjects for beautiful photography rather than just as destruction.

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

Fractured Pinnacles

Image July 11, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fractured Sierra Nevada pinnacles near Whitney Trail Crest.

Over years and decades of travel in the Sierra high country I have continued to notice new things — it is impossible to know everything about such a complex and rich subject. The highest points always appealed to me, and I remember the first time that I really noticed the rugged terrain of the highest ridges. It was on my first traverse of Forester Pass, the entrance to the monumental terrain of the Upper Kern drainage. The pass is a land of broken rock, and as I crossed it I took note of the higher ridges stretching away.

This scene is from another busy area of the high country — generally speaking, the Sierra Crest running south from Mount Whitney. The High Sierra Trail rises to this crest and from there a lateral trail follows the ridge out to the summit of Mount Whitney. I recall making this photograph quite a few years ago and, at the time, thinking about what I wanted it to look like. But other images were more pressing, and it sat in the archive until I recently produced this monochromatic rendition.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: park

The Big Trees

Rock, Flowing Water

Burned Forest

Fractured Pinnacles

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.