Tag Archives: pine

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

Spring Flooding, Tuolumne Meadows

May 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Tuolumne River overflows its banks on a spring evening, Tuolumne Meadows

This is another, slightly different view of a scene that I shared recently, photographed at Tuolumne Meadows on the weekend when Tioga Pass Road over the Sierra crest opened for the 2014 season. As is my habit, I broke free and made it up there to celebrate the beginning of a new high country season. It was a quick trip—a 21 hour 550 mile drive that took me across the range to the Mono Lake area and some nearby sights on the “east side.” Later in the day I reversed course and headed back up to Tioga Pass and began my homeward trip, stopping to spend a good part of the evening in Tuolumne Meadows, where strong wind blew as the golden hour light began to develop.

This scene is full of things that I know well. I have visited the general area of Tuolumne Meadows since I was a child and my father took me and one of my brothers up there on the first camping trip that I can remember. Every spring (or early summer in wet years) when I return I look for this area of the meadow where the Tuolumne River overflows its banks and produces a temporary lake, even in a very dry year like this one. On a number of occasions I have hiked on a trail that crosses from right to left just below the bright granite peak in the upper left, heading for a pass below Ragged Peak and then on to Young Lakes, which lie just beyond that highest ridge. (Just below and to the left of the granite peak lies a beautiful area of subalpine meadow with scattered rocks and extensive fields of lupine.) On this evening there were few people in the meadow, as the campground was not yet open and not many people were still up here so late in the day, so I was able to wait quietly for the clouds and the light to line up just right.

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

Forest and Cliffs, Autumn

November 24, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Soft autumn light on Yosemite Valley forests and granite cliffs.

A typical day of shooting in normal weather in a place like Yosemite Valley starts early – though perhaps not as early as in some other locations, since the first light is somewhat muted by the tall cliffs and taller peaks to the east. I select subjects largely based on what the light is like and where I think it will be interesting, often focusing on places where I can get nice backlight, soft light in shadows, or perhaps atmospheric conditions such as fog. I may move around the Valley, shooting in one spot for a while and then moving on to another place where I suspect that conditions might be interesting. Depending upon the conditions and the season, this can go on for hours in the morning until eventually the light becomes “midday blah” and I’m exhausted and hungry! Time for a (very late) breakfast break and a pause in the photography on most days. After coffee and food I’ll usually take care of some business, for example breaking camp if it my final day there, and I’ll often wander around to visit familiar places – perhaps a gallery or a museum – and then it is probably time for a short nap. (Keep in mind that I’ve been up since well before dawn, and will likely shoot until dark and then possibly drive for four hours or more!)

At some point in the mid to early afternoon it feels like time to photograph some more – the angle of the light becomes less and backlight opportunities increase, afternoon haze may be increasing the sense of depth in the landscape, and I need to begin figuring where I’ll want to be at various times during the evolution of the light that will continue until after sunset. On this afternoon I went back into photography mode at about 2:30 or so, and this photograph was made at the “early” hour of around 3:00. But because it was fall, the sun angle was already low enough to backlight and highlight the cottonwood trees at the edge of the meadow and the textures and shapes of the granite cliffs rising above the Valley.

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

Tall Trees, Meadow, Autumn

November 22, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tall trees grow in a row in a meadow backed by cottonwood and black oak trees with autumn foliage

I guess I just can’t help myself when it comes to photographing in this Yosemite Valley meadow area – or in similar areas, for that matter. As I’ve written before, during the time of the year when the days are shorter and the sun is lower, the light in some of these places is constantly changing – pre-sunrise and post-sunset soft “blue hour” light, early and late direct sun over the upper edges of cliffs, shadow right after dawn and before sunset and when cliffs interrupt the light during midday hours. Other changes take place on a longer cycle – the stark quality of winter, snow covering everything when winter storms arrive, morning fog, trees newly green in spring or yellow and gold in fall. And there are many more things to see than just the “landscape size” things – wildflowers, fallen leaves, frost, and more.

So, yes, I visited and revisited the meadows during this fall’s end-of-October visit to The Valley. While I often focus on the black oaks that grow in these meadows, here I decided to focus on evergreen trees. This group stands almost evenly spaced in a row. I struggled with how to deal with their height when shooting from a relatively close distance, and then realized that by not including the whole tree I could emphasize the vertical lines of their trunks and perhaps suggest the even higher parts of the trees that are not visible here.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Early Autumn Snow, Eastern Sierra

November 18, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An early autumn snow storm obscures the view of pines, aspens and other fall foliage in the eastern Sierra Nevada

This photograph, like a few others I have posted this fall, was made on an early October day when we drove across the Sierra from west to east during the first “real” snow of the season. Our goal was Bishop, California, since we planned to photograph autumn aspen color on the “east side” for a few days. Since the usual more direct route over Tioga Pass was closed due to snow, we ended up crossing all the way up close to Tahoe over Carson and then Monitor Passes to get to highway 395, which we then followed southwards along the east side of the Sierra.

The snow began before we reached Carson pass, and though it never fell very heavily, it more or less continued for the rest of the drive, only stopping shortly before we got to Bishop. This was quite a contrast to the weather we had been having, which had been up into the low 90s in our part of California only a few days earlier! Since we had the whole day to get to Bishop we made frequent stops and detours along the way, giving us lots of opportunities to photograph scenes that had a distinctly winter-like appearance. One place we paused was along a high point on highway 395 just north of Lee Vining, where huge groves of colorful aspen trees were just visible through the blowing snow. Turning slightly away from the aspen color, I chose to make a few isolated evergreen trees the focus of this photograph.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: pine

Spring Flooding, Tuolumne Meadows

Forest and Cliffs, Autumn

Tall Trees, Meadow, Autumn

Early Autumn Snow, Eastern Sierra

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