Tag Archives: pass

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

Granite and Trees, Olmsted Point

September 12, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

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

Siesta Lake, Summer

September 4, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The middle of a summer day at Siesta Lake, Yosemite National Park.

And, surprise!, yet another photograph dredged up from the archives during my summer crawl through the past eight years of raw files.

Siesta Lake is probably well-known to almost anyone who has driven across Tioga Pass Road (highway 120) from west to east through Yosemite National Park. As the road ascends from into the higher elevations, at one point it rounds a turn and there on the right is this pretty and peaceful little lake, right next to the road, surrounded by trees and boulders, and often with water lilies floating on its surface. Few can resist a quick stop, unless they are in a real hurry or have stopped there many times before. I’ve stopped there lots of times, but I still do pull over for at least a quick look.

This photograph of the lake is a bit unusual for me in a couple of ways. For one thing, it was made during the middle of the day, during those hours that are not supposed to be conducive to photography – and, in fact, which can be very challenging. But on this day there was a thin layer of overcast broken by thicker clouds, and this somewhat muted the midday intensity of the light. In addition, I think that I most often work close views of the grasses and, especially, the flowers growing in the lake – but here I stood back a bit and took in everything from the foreground to the trees on the opposite shore. Finally, the vast majority of photographs I’ve made here are in landscape (wide) orientation, with some even going all the way to 2:1 panoramic formats and beyond.

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

Boulders, Shoreline Reflections

August 25, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Granite boulders lie in shallow waters of a sub-alpine lake reflecting shoreline trees, Yosemite National Park.

This quiet little lake lies unobtrusively just off of highway 120 across the Sierra Nevada in Yosemite National Park. I’ve posted a few photographs from here before and noted that, as far as I know, the lake doesn’t even have an official name. There is just a small parking loop where you can pull out and then wander down to the lake, typically in complete solitude.

The light is a bit tricky here since the lake is in a depression where ridges to the east block the morning light. However, the wonderful rocks scattered along the shoreline make up for this! I made this photograph, and several others in the sequence, by shooting with a long lens from the other side of the lake. The low camera angle and still water created some very interesting reflections above the barely visible underwater logs and rocks.

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

Pond with Boulders and Trees

August 24, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A small pond reflects trees and glaciated boulders, Yosemite National Park.

This is a little location that I’ve returned to since I first discovered it a few years ago when I made a random stop along Tioga Pass Road to photograph some fog, looked away from the road, and saw a faint trail leading off into a little valley that looked to be full of rocks. Later I returned and wandered out on the trail and discovered a surprising landscape with glaciated granite, small pools, open forest, and small meadows. The first time I photographed there I had little time, so it ended up being more of a scouting visit than a shoot. However, this summer I planned to reserve part of a morning to wander back up this trail during the time when the light would still be good.

The pools here are almost completely still. The water is flowing, but not much, especially in the small granite rimmed pools like this one. The light was just barely beginning to filter down through the trees, so I had to be a bit careful to avoid hot spots where the sun shone. I’d share where this spot is, except that if you think about what you are passing as you drive along Tioga Pass Road, and occasionally stop and look around, you can probably find your own little spots like this one.

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