Tag Archives: pine

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

Forest and Cliffs

September 17, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yosemite forest, with many dead and dying trees, and cliffs near Bridal Veil fall

In early September, about a week after returning from over a month of international travel — and missing the entire month of August in the Sierra! — I finally got to “go home” to the Yosemite high country for a few days. I camped in Tuolumne Meadows, traveled briefly to the East Side along US 395, and returned home via quick stops in Yosemite Valley, Oakhurst, and a favorite winter bird spot in the Central Valley. It was a quick trip, but just enough to get me back in contact with the mountains. (It also let me take an early look at the upcoming seasonal changes. The signs of fall in the Sierra are clear: corn lily plants dying off and falling over, bilberry reddening meadow edges, little spots of yellow on plants high up on rocky slopes, a few golden willow leaves here and there, and a general sense that everything is slowing after summer’s frantic burst of life.)

I rarely visit Yosemite Valley in the summer, preferring almost any other time to the crowds that go there during the vacation season. Although this was a post-Labor Day visit, and the biggest crowds had departed, there were still lots of people there. After a visit to the Ansel Adams Gallery, where a show celebrating the role of photography in the parks was close to concluding (it included five of my prints), I started to head out of the Valley. As I passed this spot I caught a glimpse of drought-killed trees (with the help of bark beetles), other trees standing tall, and the cliffs around Bridal Veil fall. I noticed it too late to stop… so I took one more loop around the roads of the lower valley and came back to make this photograph in the afternoon light and haze.

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

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

Evening Meadow and Forest

August 27, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening at subalpine meadows near Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park

I began photographing in this meadow area much earlier — in the late afternoon, actually, when direct sunlight still streamed over the tall ridge to the west. I initially passed right through this section on my way to points further to the east in the meadow, where I found more open terrain, expansive views, and a few small lakes and tarns.

The light leaves early here. That western ridge begins to cast a shadow across the meadows well before actual sunset. Even though I was as far from this ridge as possible, eventually the shadows caught up with me and the light was gone, with the exception of the highest peaks where it would linger much longer. So I began my slow walk back across the meadow to my vehicle, enjoying the softer light of this quiet time of the day.

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

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

Forest, Granite Ridges

July 30, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light and thin forest along granite ridges, Yosemite National Park

This is to be a summer of travel, and a great deal of it will take me a long ways from my Sierra Nevada mountains — to other wonderful places, but not places that are wild and natural. (At least not until September, when my visits to the Sierra will recommence.) So I managed to get up into the Yosemite high country for four days in mid-July to do some photography… and breathing!

On the last morning, before returning to break camp, I headed out early to look for subjects in morning light. In fact, I had been watching this particular area and had in mind to photograph these trees, growing on an old glaciated granite ridge, against the background of more distant, haze-muted, ridges. Once I got there it was a bonus to notice the diagonal shadows of the distant trees.

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

Ridgetop Trees, Cloudy Sky

October 28, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A momentary break in a September storm lights ridgetop trees against a cloudy sky

In a way, I sneaked up on this stand of trees over a period of several days. A small group of us camped at a backcountry Sierra lake for about a week back in September. The experience of photographing in one limited area for this long is quite different from photographing while actively backpacking or while moving around by vehicle. Each morning one wakes up in the same place, and each morning one heads out into the same landscape, looking for new views of it or for subjects and locations that were not immediately apparent. We also have the opportunity to return to subjects more than once as the conditions change — different times of day, different atmospheric conditions, and so forth.

These trees stand atop a glacially carved ridge above “out” lake and between it and another similar lake below. The rocky terrain limits the growth of trees and they tend to stand apart from one another, often revealing more clearly the shapes of individual trees. I first saw this area and it trees very early on during our visit, and I climbed the low ridge a number of times. Near the end of our stay a storm swept in and we had on and off rain for a couple of day. I went out on this somewhat soggy day, alternately walking around the landscape and using that very landscape to hide from the intermittent showers that passed through. I hiked up the hill in the rain, using a thicker bit of forest for cover, and I emerged into the open as the clouds thinned a bit and the rain momentarily diminished, and the landscape lightened as weak sunlight shone. This clump of trees stands resolutely near the very top of the ridge.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: pine

Forest and Cliffs

Evening Meadow and Forest

Forest, Granite Ridges

Ridgetop Trees, Cloudy Sky

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