Tag Archives: peaks

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

The Storm Ends

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The Storm Ends — remnants of summer storm in the Ritter Range.
“The Storm Ends” — Sunset light on clouds as a summer monsoon storm clears above Sierra Nevada peaks.

Yes, I’m still working my way through the photographs from our August backcountry photography expedition in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. The process is often an extended one for me. Typically there are a few images that jump out at me immediately. Then I begin to work on photographs that I was less sure about initially but which grow on me as I consider them. Finally there are photographs like this one that, from the start, seemed interesting but which I knew would take additional effort to bring to a presentable state. In this case, the light was quite challenging and this version of the photograph required considerable post-processing to get it to where I feel that it reflects what I saw and felt that evening.

We had walked in to our basecamp location (with packers bringing much of our gear) the previous day. Almost immediately after our arrival a tremendous monsoonal summer storm unloaded on us, pinning us down in our tents for hours. The challenging weather continued, albeit in less dramatic form, over the next 24 hours. On the second evening the clouds began to break a bit and it seemed like the sky might be getting lighter beyond the ridge to our west. We all headed out to photograph the transition, and we were not disappointed! As the clearing continued, fog drifted among the peaks and the last of the day’s sun illuminated clouds with sunset 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Forest and Peaks, Morning Light

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Forest and Peaks, Morning Light
Morning light on high peaks and forest trees, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

Forest and Peaks, Morning Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning light on high peaks and forest trees, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

My original plan was to post a photograph today from Manhattan — one of my street photography images from a recent visit to New York and surrounding areas. But on a morning when temperatures here are projected to reach 108 degrees (and much higher in other nearby California areas) it seems appropriate to instead share another photograph of a cool mountain scene. Right now I would make some pretty big sacrifices to be back in this place on a day like the one when I made the photograph!

I had left our base camp before sunrise to head up the higher country via an improvised route that crossed a few small streams before following lovely meadows up toward an impressive mountain ridge. (This may look like the crest of the Sierra, but here there are extremely high peaks west of the actual crest.) It was truly a lovely morning. Before long the first sunlight lit the highest peaks, and I stopped to make this photograph as the light arrived on section of forest between the meadows. I continued on up to a small lake in the alpine basin below the peaks.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Forest And Meadow, First Light

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Forest And Meadow, First Light
The first morning light at the boundary between forest and subalpine meadow, eastern Sierra Nevada.

Forest And Meadow, First Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning light on high peaks and forest trees, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

Today I swing back from the East Coast to the West Coast and my familiar Sierra Nevada. Back in August a group of us spent a week in the Sierra backcountry exploring the area around our base camp and photographing the heck out of the place. In the middle of a very dry year in California, we were surprised by with some rather wet weather — in fact, a bit too wet during the first 24 hours. On the bright side, mountain streams came back to life, and we had days of interesting and picturesque skies rather than the more common string of Sierra blue sky days.

There’s a pattern to the days on these backcountry base camp trips. We’re usually up early, and folks head out individually or in small groups to investigate whatever potential subjects attract their attention. Rather than going to the highest alpine zones on this trip, I often visited a beautiful subalpine basin filled with meadows and small trees. On several mornings I headed up there, crossing small streams and following the meadows up to the alpine zone. I made this photograph right after one of the crossings, as the first direct light fell on the meadow and forest beneath a pair of brooding peaks.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

Mountains and Cascade, Dawn

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Mountains and Cascade, Dawn
A cascade descends from the high country as dawn light illuminates peaks.

Mountains and Cascade, Dawn. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A cascade descends from the high country as dawn light illuminates peaks.

One benefit of surviving the deluge we experienced on the first days of our recent backcountry photography trip was that the streams came back to life… and then some. In this drought-year August we were not expecting to see a lot of water, but as the near-flood receded the streams were flowing as if it were still early summer. There was water everywhere — tarns were full, small streams came back to life in meadows, and rocky cascades were full of water.

As I headed into one lovely subalpine meadow I had to cross several of these streams, something that presented a bit more of an adventure than I might have seen a few days earlier. As I pondered this crossing I noted that first morning light on the peaks far above, and I paused to photograph the rapidly descending water that I was about to cross.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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