Tag Archives: pine

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Cliffs, Morning Light

May 11, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Immense cliffs in the Pine Creek Canyon area of Zion National Park.

This was an interesting morning, as much for its place in the sequence of events on this trip to photograph in Utah as for the actual photographic opportunities. I have noticed, and other photographers I’ve spoken with about this seem to agree to at least some extent, that there is sometimes a sort of “getting up to speed” element to certain types of shooting when you are getting started. I recall mentioning this to one photographer friend in the context of a discussion about the idea that you should always have a clear vision for your photograph before you make it – a theoretical concept that most photographers I know acknowledge to be unrealistic and perhaps even a bad idea. (This is not to say that thinking about what your “capture” may look like as a photograph is unimportant, but rather an acknowledgement that things are often more complex than the simplistic notion suggests and that sometimes we, quite honestly, don’t really know for sure which images will work or why.) When the idea of waiting for a really good image before making a photograph came up, I shared the observation that I sometimes have to “prime the pump” but simply starting to make some photographs, even if I’m not convinced that the first ones will be great. (One friend then referred to this as “photographic foreplay.” ;-)

The previous day we had driven to St. George, Utah from the San Francisco Bay Area – a LONG drive – and finally stumbled into a motel in St. George close to midnight. (As I recall, the motel advertised something like “The Cheapest Rooms in St. George!”) Up in the morning for precisely the free breakfast that you might expect in such a place – I resisted and instead walked across the street to a Starbucks – we left early and headed into Zion. As I recall we did not spend much, if any, time in Zion Canyon, and we were soon heading up the Mount Carmel highway, still having made no photographs. Finally, as we turned a few switchbacks on the initial climb, we saw some interesting light on the cliffs across the canyon, pulled over, got our cameras and lenses and tripods and made some photographs. I’m not sure that any of them were exactly remarkable, but with this first “shoot” (priming the pump) our work was now underway.

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

Evening Forest, Yosemite Valley

May 10, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early evening light filters through forest, Yosemite Valley, California.

I’m probably not alone in loving the early evening forest light, as the sun’s light filters horizontally between the trees just prior to dropping below the horizon or nearby ridges. As I wandered along looking for dogwood blooms, I passed a section where the forest thinned a bit beyond the nearest trees, and allowed a bit more light to hit the trees. I only had a few moments to make this photograph before the light ended.

This is one of many examples of how the light changes everything. In the middle of the day these trees would seem gray and the light would be harsh – dark shadows would make it very difficult to photograph in an interesting way. But here the light coming from behind the dogwood leaves and brush makes it glow, and the late-day warm color of the light turns those gray trees all sorts of interesting shades of brown.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Canyon Bottom, Red Rock, and Trees

March 10, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Red rock sandstone terrain, trees, and brush line a canyon bottom in the high country of Zion National Park

Yes, I’m still working that vein of October 2012 Utah photographs! This one came from a productive day, though it wasn’t an easy one, during which we spent a lot of time along the Mount Carmel Highway that passes through the high country of the park, looking for fall color and juxtapositions of light and rock and trees.

This rough terrain varies in its susceptibility to being photographed as the light changes. Areas that might be muted while in shadow can become highlighted and separated from background terrain when the sun strikes them. On the other hand, certain subjects such as fall foliage may be almost impossible to photograph in direct light, but when they fall into shadows the soft and diffuse light can change them. This photograph combines the shadows and the direct light, with the sun lighting a few trees, especially those at the top of the foreground red rock, and letting them stand out against the background terrain that is in the shadows.

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

Quiet Forest, Reflected Meadow Light

March 5, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Forest trees are illuminated by soft light reflected from a nearby meadow, Yosemite Valley

This could be any number of places in Yosemite Valley where forest and meadow come together. I was walking from one photographic location to another when I passed by this clump of trees at the edge of the forest and thought about photographing them. I even set up and composed a shot… and then the light died. This was a day when the light was coming and going quickly, and this was especially true in this spot which was not far from the edge of the Valley and the boundary between partial sun and the clouds that gathered around the cliffs. So I continued on a bit and tried to find a way to photograph the other subject that had been my original goal.

Finishing that, I started back and soon came upon these trees again. This time the light was back. Off to the left of the trees was a large open area leading to an even larger meadow a bit further out toward the center of the Valley. As there was more light in the meadow and because there were clouds above, a good deal of the light reaching these trees was diffused side-light rather than the overhead light that might have been here if the weather had been clear. So, once again, I set up the tripod and framed a tight composition of these trees, a bit of the winter-dormant grass at their base, and the denser forest beyond. As I set up I could see that the light wasn’t going to last, and I had time for one decent exposure before the light died again.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: pine

Cliffs, Morning Light

Evening Forest, Yosemite Valley

Canyon Bottom, Red Rock, and Trees

Quiet Forest, Reflected Meadow Light

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