Tag Archives: photography

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Three Autumn Aspens, Cliff Face

October 23, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Three autumn aspens with colorful leaves in front of a granite cliff face near South Lake, Sierra Nevada, California.

These trees grow along a rocky area on the road to South Lake just before Parcher’s Resort, where the road ascends past a steep rocky section with some low cliffs. I’ve long been intrigued by the rocks here and when I drove past earlier this day – in somewhat harsh light – I thought it would interesting to come back later in the day when this area was in shade and the light was softer and more diffused. When the aspens change color this spot turns out to be a veritable shooting gallery of rocks and trees, with many interesting juxtapostions of these two elements.

The only real technical challenge – aside from staying out the way of passing cars! – was dealing with the combination of low light in the shaded area and very windy conditions on this day. A significant early-season storm was making its way into the Sierra and the winds were really ramping up in the afternoon and evening. Normally I might try to deal with this by using a faster shutter speed, but shooting in the low-light shade made this less of an option, and I ended up standing around a lot waiting for brief and infrequent lulls in the wind. I also decided to accept a bit of motion blur from the leaves – in the end I don’t think that is necessarily a problem.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dense Aspen Grove, Autumn

October 22, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Small trees grow closely together in a dens aspen grove near South Lake, Sierra Nevada, Callifornia.

I have photographed this dense stand of Sierra Nevada aspens below South Lake in the past. I first found it a year ago while exploring a short gravel road off to the side of the main road to South Lake, and I’ve come to like photographing it in late afternoon, evening, or cloudy light – all of which diffuse and soften the light, allowing more visibility into the center of the very dense trees.

This year the leaf color was not nearly as intense in this grove as it was when I visited last year, though here I think the complexity of the branch patterns shows up better. (Though that will be almost impossible to see in this small jpg version – I’ve tested for a print at 10″ x 30″ size where the detail is more clearly seen.)

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Ideas

What Does “Purist” Mean?

October 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 8 Comments

So, let’s say you happen to be spending some time in a popular place doing photography and other things. In the course of your day you wander down to a spot that is very popular with tourists, and you discover an interesting and impressive-looking gallery of photographs. You go inside and read about the photographer – a self-described “purist” who says the photographs show the scenes as they were at the time of the exposures and don’t use fancy and artificial post-processing.

But all but a few of the photographs look like the saturation slider in Photoshop was pushed up to about 100. (OK, I exaggerate… a bit! :-) Highlights in clouds and such are blown out. Shadows are blocked. And colors are pushed in odd and impossible directions.

You understand why such an approach is appealing to folks unfamiliar with fine photographic work, especially when the presentation and pricing of the prints screams “This is Great Photography!” But you’ve seen really, really fine photographs that did not depend on heavy-handed post-processing. In fact, among the photographs in this collection you see a few that take the high road and don’t go over the top, and which remind you of some of those other fine and subtle and sophisticated prints – and which even inspire you a bit.

The artist’s statement keeps coming back to you – the business about being a “purist” and about not post-processing and about presenting in the photographs an unadulterated and real vision of the original subjects.

What do you do? Do you get mad? Do you laugh? Do you try not to think about it? Something else?

Just wondering…

BTW: A few things for the record:

I am not criticizing any specific photographer, but rather thinking about an issue that we might all have to deal with.
You do not know what photographer (or “popular place!”) I might be writing about – and since the specifics don’t matter I won’t confirm or deny anyone’s guesses.
Consider the possibility that I might have just made up the whole story as a literary device for this post… :-)

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Storm Clouds at Dawn – Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys

October 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Early morning light above the Buttermilks illumunates Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys under the clouds of an early autumn storm over the Sierra Nevada crest.

This is another of several exposures I made on this beautiful early October morning when I decided to abandon my plans to be at North Lake for dawn after spotting these astonishing clouds over the eastern Sierra as I drove through the Buttermilks on my way up into the Bishop Creek drainage. I drove out on gravel roads into the high desert until I found what looked like an interesting juxtaposition of near hills, mountains beyond, the peaks of the Sierra in the distance, and the clouds that were dropping light snow up higher in the range above.

Needless to say, the light and the cloud forms were constantly changing as I watched this scene. I waited until the closer rocky hills began to pick up a bit of a glow from the sun low in the eastern sky, and then I made a number of exposures as the sun struck lower on the mountains and as the patterns of light and shadow from racing clouds moved across the peaks.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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