Tag Archives: pine

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

Cascade Creek – Trees and Mist

June 30, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

The spring torrent of cascade creek fills its narrow canyon with mist behind trees growing among the rocks.

I’ve been sitting on this second photograph of Cascade Creek, shot back near the beginning of June, trying to make some decisions about cropping and so forth. I finally have decided that I think I like this somewhat unusual (for me, at least) square format for this image.

Cascade Creek crosses beneath Big Oak Flat Road as it descends toward the Merced River and Yosemite Valley. For a few weeks during the spring snow melt season it can turn into a powerfully flowing stream, whose power is amplified by the steep descent and narrowness of the rock channel it follows.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Cascade Creek, Spring

June 15, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 10 Comments

The spring torrent of Cascade Creek descends past Big Oak Flat Road on its way to the Merced River, Yosemite National Park, California.

Every year, but especially in years of above average precipitation, this cascade flows strongly in the early season as low elevation snow melts above Crane Flat Road. The creek, swollen with runoff, drops down a narrow slot above the road, passes under the bridge, and continues its descent to join the Merced. This year the cascade was very full during my first-week-of-June visit, and even though I’ve photographed it before I had to stop again.

Lighting can be tricky here. The water is deep in the cleft in the rocks, so it is much darker and the light is fairly blue. The direct sun was lighting the foreground trees, which are much brighter and warmer in color than the background. I was lucky in that the waterfall and some morning breezes were raising a good deal of mist, which alternately obstructed the view of the fall and cleared away to show some of the trees. At the moment I made this exposure the shadows of trees outside the frame were creating shadows in the cloud of mist.

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

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 84mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/4 second

keywords: yosemite, national, park, sierra, nevada, mountain, spring, nature, tree, oak, pine, trunk, branch, rock, boulder, granite, cascade, creek, fall, waterfall, torrent, spring, runoff, melt, water, foam, spray, big, flat, road, merced, river, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, mist, light, morning, beam, stock

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

Lodgepole Grove and Boulders – Lembert Dome

June 12, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Glacial erratics and a grove of lodgepole trees along the lower slopes of Lembert Dome, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park.

As I drove down into the Tuolumne Meadows area from Tioga Pass in the early evening I caught a brief glimpse of some interesting diffused light on boulders lying across the lower slopes of Lembert Dome and decided to stop. On a typical high-season summer evening this would be a very crowded place, but on this early June evening most people had left and I had it almost to myself.

By the time I parked and unloaded my gear and walked up this slope the light was not quite what I had seen from the car. The clouds to the west had thickened a bit and the glow that I had originally seen in the light was dissipating. I decided to stay to see if the light would come back, since I could see that the clouds might move enough to let the scene brighten a bit. In the end I didn’t get the light I had in mind, but I think this photograph may serve as a study that let me work out a few things I’ll do differently when I return to shoot this subject, perhaps later this summer.

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

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 87mm
ISO 200, f/16, 1/15 second

keywords: yosemite, national, park, sierra, nevada, mountain, spring, nature, lembert, dome, glacial, erratic, polish, rock, boulder, lodgepole, tamarack, pine, grove, trees, evening, light, late, slope, texture, landscape, nature, california, usa, north america, lichen, stock

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

Dry Creek and Late-Season Meadow

December 11, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light illuminates a dry creek bed winding though late season meadow grasses and trees near Fletcher Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

As the trail at Fletcher Lake heads upward to begin the climb towards Evelyn Lake there is an area in the meadow to the left of the trail where small trees have begun to infiltrate the meadow and there is now a “mini-forest” of sorts. I’ve photographed this spot – this exact spot, actually! – before, and I often like to shoot it in the morning light when the low angle sun first hits the meadow. Here a dry seasonal runoff creek winds between the trees in this section of mixed meadow and young forest.

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

keywords: dry, creek, stream, bed, late, season, summer, meadow, plant, grass, foliage, flora, tree, small, lodgepole, pine, rock, light, silhouette, forest, fletcher, lake, vogelsang, high, sierra, nevada, camp, mountain, range, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, hike, camp, backpack, morning, winding, shadow, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, wilderness, alpine, stock

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