Tag Archives: pioneer

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tree and Rock Face

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Tree and Rock Face
A tree next to an eroded and fractured rock face, John Muir Wilderness

Tree and Rock Face. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tree next to an eroded and fractured rock face, John Muir Wilderness.

Here I am back, once again, to that trip into the John Muir Wilderness from which so many recent posts have come. Believe it or not, there still may be a few to come! With a full week to photograph there, I had ample opportunities to explore all sides of this area.

Above our camp the landscape opened up, becoming more rugged and alpine. This is a land of exposed rocks, glacially smoothed and ground down, with rocks and slabs interspersed with meadows. As I followed a creek up into this drainage, often skirting along the edge of wet, meadowy areas, I saw some interesting rock patterns a bit higher up at the base of a nearby ridge, so I climbed up to photograph the rocks and the small trees and wildflowers growing there.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Commentary, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Forest, and Mountains

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Meadow, Forest, and Mountains
Clouds in the sky above meadow, forest, and mountains, John Muir Wilderness

Meadow, Forest, and Mountains. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds in the sky above meadow, forest, and mountains, John Muir Wilderness.

This is another photograph that emerged from the raw file archives as I reviewed photographs from a weeklong backcountry photography expedition a couple of years ago — that year’s version of the annual trips I make with a group of like-minded photographers. As per the usual plan, we made our way to a beautiful backcountry location, set up a base camp, and went to work spending the next week photographing the area like mad.

A short walk above our camp the country opened up into the terrain that is among my favorite in the Sierra — forests of smaller trees, broken up by rock-dotted meadows, and expansive high-elevation views to surrounding ridges and peaks. I made this photograph on a morning visit to this spot, starting to photograph before dawn and continuing into the early morning after sunrise. For the most part, the sky was typical “perfect Sierra blue,” but I was fortunate when a few clouds began to form about the distant ridge.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Forest, and Mountains

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Meadow, Forest, and Mountains
High Sierra meadow, forest, and mountains, John Muir Wilderness

Meadow, Forest, and Mountains. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

High Sierra meadow, forest, and mountains, John Muir Wilderness.

By the time I made this photograph I had likely been up and at work for an hour or more. This meadow was a relatively short uphill walk from our base camp, and we visited here often during our one-week photographic stay, photographing it early and late in the day, and using it as a route to higher terrain. Although it was relatively late in the season, the fact that this summer followed a wet winter meant that the meadows were still green and wildflowers were everywhere.

The terrain here offered some special opportunities. We arrived at our base camp after hiking over a high pass, descending into a deep river canyon, and then climbing out the other side and rising to a bench where we set up camp above a small, meadow-ringed lake. That spot was one of several similarly situated lake/meadow areas, positioned progressively higher up a broad valley leading to very high peaks. From any of these meadows the views opened back across that deep canyon toward a very high and impressive ridge on the other side of the valley, so we had a wealth of opportunities to juxtapose lovely foreground meadows and forest with distant rugged peaks.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Morning Light, Meadow and Lake

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Morning Light, Meadow and Lake
First morning light comes to Sierra Nevada peaks beyond forest-rimmed lake and meadow

Morning Light, Meadow and Lake. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First morning light comes to Sierra Nevada peaks beyond forest-rimmed lake and meadow

This photograph includes many of the major visual themes from a weeklong photographic visit to this part of the Sierra Nevada backcountry: The green meadow with its small trees, the still lake, low hills between the lake and the deep valley beyond, and across that valley many high, alpine peaks.

Although it is not the highest peak in this view — not by far — the bulky peak in the center of the frame dominated the view from this spot and many other nearby areas. (It also appears in a previous photograph I posted from near this location.) This morning began with partly cloudy skies, and as the sunlight began to penetrate the overcast it sent a beam of warm light across the face of the peak.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.