Tag Archives: park

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

Granite, Snow, And Clouds

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Granite, Snow, And Clouds
Clouds sweep across granite faces as winter snow falls above Yosemite Valley

Granite, Snow, And Clouds. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds sweep across granite faces as winter snow falls above Yosemite Valley

This morning brought what I consider almost perfect Yosemite Valley weather — cold, windy, light snow falling, and misty clouds floating among the cliffs, peaks, and turrets surrounding the Valley. I found a spot with a suitable view of several impressive sections of Valley wall, put a long lens on the camera, and began to photograph as the storm evolved.

This sort of photography is anything but static. With clouds in motion and snow falling, the scene was constantly changing. One moment everything would go gray and the rocky faces were almost completely obscured. Then a section of thinner clouds would arrive, the granite and trees would begin to emerge, and sometimes the sun would briefly light sections of the scene. And as I focused on one area, something interesting would begin to occur in another spot. I had eyed the foreground sloping granite for some time, waiting for it to clear and for the ridge extending beyond it to become somewhat visible as the clouds drifted and parted.

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

Forest, Meadow, New Snow

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Granite, Snow, And Clouds
Overnight snow coats forest trees, Yosemite National Park

Forest, Meadow, New Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds sweep across granite faces as winter snow falls above Yosemite Valley

This morning followed a light overnight snowfall in Yosemite Valley, and the temperature was cold enough that the snow did not melt. The thin coating of snow remained on the trees, even as the first sun arrived, peaking over the top of the cliffs along the south side of the Valley.

In the foreground are trees growing on the Valley floor, near the edge of a large, open meadow, including both conifers and deciduous trees. The further up the Valley walls we look the more snow remains, and backlit trees with snowy branches wind their way upwards toward granite cliffs. Further in the distance those cliffs appear, snow dusted and blue in the cold shadow 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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Trees and New Snow

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Trees and New Snow
Trees with new snow in sun and shadow at the base of a Yosemite Valley cliff

Trees and New Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees with new snow in sun and shadow at the base of a Yosemite Valley cliff

During this weeklong late-February visit to Yosemite National Park (thanks to an artist-in-residency from Yosemite Renaissance) the weather was quite cold, even for the Sierra Nevada in winter, and there was light snow at times throughout the period. In many ways, this is almost idea for photography in Yosemite Valley — although the snow and cold complicate the process of making photographs, they also have some beneficial effects. Obviously, the snow changes the appearance of the landscape in many ways, and the cold weather tends to reduce the number of people who are out and about.

It had snowed a few inches in the Valley since the previous afternoon. (The storm was varied, and I work up to considerably more snow than that where I was staying, outside the Valley.) Because of the unusual cold — it barely got out of the teens — the snow stayed “dry” and didn’t immediately melt out of the trees. In the photograph you can see a bit of snow in the meadow on the Valley floor, but there was more up higher, and the trees ascending the further slope all were fringed with it.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Morning, Fresh Snow

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Morning, Fresh Snow
The previous night’s new snow covers the trees of this conifer forest

Morning, Fresh Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The previous night’s new snow covers the trees of this conifer forest

This is another photograph from my recent week in Yosemite Valley in late February — and a cold and snowy week it was! But that was good news during a winter that had previously bene characterized by nearly a month of no precipitation and by well above-average temperatures. Yosemite Valley is always more picturesque after (or during) snow, but the climatological backdrop made this even more true this year.

I drove down into the Valley on this morning after snowfall the night before. There wasn’t a lot of snow — perhaps 4-5 inches where I had stayed overnight and no more than an inch or two in most of the Valley. But in many ways that was just about the perfect amount. On this very cold morning the snow stayed in the trees, and the thin layer still allowed the darker colors and shapes of the branches and tree trunks to be visible. As I came to this spot I noticed that the snow-lined trees were back-lit, so I stopped, wandered into the forest, and photographed… and before long the sun passed behind the upper edges of high cliffs, the area was in shade, and the opportunity was gone.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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