Tag Archives: park

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures

Metal Shingles and Electrical Wire

October 20, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Weathered metal shingles and electrical wire on the wall of an abandoned building in the historic Bodie, California ghost town

I’ve visited Bodie a number of times, and I find the history of the place fascinating – from its mining roots up to its gradual death in the 20th Century. That said, and despite the obvious wealth of potential subjects, I’ve had a hard time warming up to it as a photographic subject. It is difficult to get there at the times of day when the light is most interesting, due to the limited hours the state park is open. And the midday light can be very harsh. In addition, it is an increasingly popular tourist attraction, which adds an additional challenge to the photography – unless you are there to photograph the people.

The times when I’ve enjoyed photographing there have almost all been those with “interesting” weather – perhaps some building afternoon thunderstorms, light snow, or possibly rain. Bodie was on our “maybe” list for shooting subjects on this trip – but when we saw clouds and snow along the eastern Sierra on this day we decided to head out there and see if this would add some interest. Once you are in Bodie, certain subjects seem to come to mind – photographing the many old derelict buildings, the overall landscape of the town, the surrounding landscape, the mining equipment and structures. I first focused on the old buildings, but then began to look a bit more at some of the smaller elements, such as this section of a rusted metal shingled wall with a bit of old electrical wire dangling from its side.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Shoreline Meadow, Unnamed Lake

October 16, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Granite boulders line a small rock-filled meadow near the outlet of an unnamed sub-alpine High Sierra lake, Kings Canyon National Park

This is, to say the least, a complex photograph. I am well aware that it violates all of the “rules,” especially those that suggest that a photograph should have a clear central subject. While that is often fine advice – and I often try to use a single aspect of a larger subject to say something about the larger whole – I think that in some cases it may be fine to use a photograph to portray things that are not quite so simple, and subjects or scenes where the core nature of the thing is, in fact, its overwhelming complexity of detail and form.

This was clearly a very detailed scene, and it embodies an important aspect of the character of these high sierra areas that sit just below timberline in the sub-alpine zone. While there is an order to this environment, it is not a simple order and many components work together in complex ways. I made this photograph at the outlet stream of this nameless lake, located at the 11,000′ level a very short distance from our camp. On this morning the lake’s waters were very still, reflecting the rocky surrounding terrain. (The only simple thing in this scene is the bit of reflected sky at the lower right.) The bit of foreground meadow has taken on the late summer and early fall golden and brown tones, and its surface is interrupted by embedded rocks that become more numerous near the lake’s edge and in its outlet stream. The rest of the landscape is largely one of rock – massive chunks of rock such as the dome-like feature along the far shore and the rounded and rugged shapes of the slopes above, along with fractured and shattered talus slopes composed of rock that has fallen down from the peaks above. Aside from the meadow, the only plant life visible in this landscape consists of scattered trees growing among the rocks and small clusters of alpine willows.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Three Snags, Unnamed Sierra Cliff

October 14, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Three dead snags on a small ledge catch the late afternoon light at the base of a huge, shadowed cliff of crumbling granite.

I returned to the area near this cliff face almost daily during our mid-September photography trip to this region of the Kings Canyon National Park back-country. The area was rich with photographic subjects – sub-alpine ponds and larger lakes, late summer golden meadows, granite slabs and boulders, individual trees and forest, the surrounding slopes and cliffs, and the summits of ridges and peaks beyond. We photographed here morning and evening, and in sun and rain and clouds. Although we were in the area of almost a full week, we could easily return for another week and find plenty more to photograph.

This rugged and broken bit of cliff face had intrigued me before I thought to photograph it this way. It rose above the far end of the largest lake in this area, with talus slopes at its base and a higher ridge above. Beyond it other faces and slopes rose into a higher valley that was topped with very high and fractured ridge. At this late time in the summer season, the face was in shade in both the early morning and evening hours, with only some areas struck by light slanting across from one side or the other. While looking at the face I noticed a small group of three bare snags standing in the sun at the lower right and though that I might be able to contrast them with the larger rocky face, and include them as a way to suggest the large scale of the cliffs. The blue tones are, of course, because the rocks are in shadow, though some reflected light adds a glow to some of the rocks facing toward the left. This photograph may be a bit difficult to make sense of at a small web size, but my intention is to print it very large so that the details will be more visible.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Emerald Lake and Granite Benches

October 12, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A series of granite benches with back-lit trees rises above the emerald waters of a sub-alpine Sierra Nevada lake, Kings Canyon National Park

This photograph includes several features that say “Sierra Nevada high country” to me, and which immediately evoke a whole range of associations that have evolved over decades of backpacking, hiking, skiing and otherwise being in that world. The rounded granite slabs and benches rising toward more distant talus slopes are a common feature of these mountains. The small, widely spaced trees growing in the rocky terrain not far below timberline are another. The late-season brown grasses and yellow willows are a part of the annual cycle announcing that winter will soon be arriving. And everywhere, small but deep lakes scooped out by glacial action can both reveal the patterns of shoreline rocks and descend into deep emerald blue.

This is – no surprise by now, perhaps! – one more photograph from our mid-September time photographing in the back-country of Kings Canyon National Park, camped for the better part of a week in an area of many beautiful lakes near the 11,000′ level. This was an incredibly rich field for making photographs, and we were able to “work” it for the full-time and rarely walk more than perhaps 15-20 minutes from our camp. This small lake was simply one of many small lakes in this area, and I passed by it several times as I wandered up the meadows and granite of the valley above our camp.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: park

Metal Shingles and Electrical Wire

Shoreline Meadow, Unnamed Lake

Three Snags, Unnamed Sierra Cliff

Emerald Lake and Granite Benches

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