Tag Archives: peak

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

Sierra Crest Tarn

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Sierra Crest Tarn
“Sierra Crest Tarn” — Clouds over Mammoth Peak and a Tioga Pass tarn.

Sometimes when I visit the Sierra I cover surprising distances to get from location to location. But I devoted the entirety of my mid-September visit to the Yosemite high country to locations between Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass. I made this photograph from as far east as I went, right at the pass, where small tarns dot a landscape of meadows and small trees.

This can be a green and even lush place early in the season, but by the end of summer the meadows dry out and turn “California golden.” I made the photographer relatively early in the morning, when clouds were just beginning to build above Mammoth Peak and the Kuna Crest.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tioga Crest, Evening

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Tioga Crest, Evening
“Tioga Crest, Evening” — Tioga Crest in sunset light, reflected in a small pond.

This ridge lies a bit east of the actual Sierra Nevada Crest, just outside of Yosemite National Park’s eastern boundary. The peaks along the park boundary are magnificent examples of the rugged, rocky landscape that characterizes the highest parts of the range. But the ridge in this photograph is different. Despite being over 11,000′ high, on its western side it looks like… a really big hill, with little of the rocky, rugged alpine quality that we expect from these high mountains.

After my early backcountry dinner (as usual, eaten from the bag into which I had poured the cup of boiling water), I headed out for my evening photography. As the last sunlight left the lake where we camped I looked to distant high points where that warm light still shone. Here I lined up the peak with its reflection in a small pond only steps from my campsite.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Blue Hour: Lake and Fog

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Blue Hour: Lake and Fog
“Blue Hour: Lake and Fog” — Dusk fog rises from the surface of a subalpine lake reflecting a Sierra crest peak.

I had thought that I was done photographing for the evening when I passed this little lake and saw the fog rising in dusk light. The light was fading fast, so I quickly got out my tripod and set up for some relatively long exposures — this one was 15 seconds. The conditions arose after an afternoon and evening of rain ended and the skies began to clear, allowing fog to appear here and at every other similar body of water.

Photographs in these conditions — essentially twilight — test our understanding of what it means for a photograph to be “realistic.” The truth is that our eyes don’t see like this in extremely low light — so what you get here is a sort of “what the camera saw” image. (The eyes also do not interpolate drifting fog over a 15 second period!)

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Corkscrew Peak, Evening

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Corkscrew Peak, Evening, Death Valley
“Corkscrew Peak, Evening” — Evening light on the giant alluvial plain leading up towards Corkscrew Peak.

This peak has long intrigued me — along with the entire ridge that it lies on. Perhaps the name first caught my attention when I was trying to identify landmarks in photographs I took from out in the Valley. Hint: it does not really look much like a corkscrew, though I can see how the tilted rock layers that seem to run around it inspired the name.

I photographed this on my first evening in Death Valley back in February. After a very long drive from the Bay Area I set up camp, rested a bit, and then it was time to go find something to photograph. Since it was late in the day I wanted to keep it somewhat simple, so I headed to this spot along a road leading out of the Valley, arriving just in time to photograph the day’s last 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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

Join the discussion — you are welcome to leave a comment or question. (Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.)

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(All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.)