Tag Archives: point

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

Granite and Trees, Olmsted Point

September 12, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Lone trees stand among glacial erratics on granite slabs near Olmsted Point as evening light strikes Clouds Rest and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park.

This photograph was made near the popular and iconic Olmsted Point along Tioga Pass Road (highway 120) across the Sierra through Yosemite National Park. The spot is a short walk from the busy parking lot, but even this five or ten minute stroll was enough to get me some relative solitude on this summer evening.

The combination of close granite slabs, glacial erratics lying about, more distant domes and peaks, and a few scattered trees says “Yosemite” to me in ways that are more true than even the iconic scenes from The Valley. Almost every area of the high country was shaped by glaciers, and all of these things are a direct result of that origin. Another thing that I like about this photograph, ironically, is that there is really nothing all that special about it! There are a few high, thin clouds – but no towering thunderheads. The light is warming as the end of the day approaches – but this is not yet prime golden hour light. And although at least one icon appears in the scene, it is not even the dominant feature.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Eroded Gullies at Zabriskie Point, Morning

September 1, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Low angle morning light illuminates a tortured landscape of eroded gullies at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park.

I recently “rediscovered” this photograph while undertaking a major review of the past eight years of my raw files. (And, yes, that task is just about as much fun as you might imagine. It would actually be pretty unbearable except that every so often I find some photographs that I had perhaps forgotten or overlooked, and I also come across images that remind me of experiences that took place some time ago.)

This photograph was made, as virtually anyone who has visited the spot recognizes, by pointing my camera about 90 degrees to the left of the classic Zabriskie Point views. Timing was important, as the early light is just skimming across the tops of these tortuously eroded gullies, picking out the ridges between them but leaving the lower sections in shadow. But good fortune also played a role here. Death Valley is usually a clear blue sky kind of place, but on this morning I had clouds! At dawn, if I recall correctly, the clouds actually interfered with the light a bit. But as the sun rose the clouds provided a more dramatic background than plain blue sky and created some softer and diffused light that gave just the right sort of dynamic range for photographs.

On a technical note, if you are viewing this in the right web browser you can mouse over the image and see a summary of basic EXIF data. (Sorry, but this feature only works in web browsers – if you are viewing email, etc. you’ll need to visit the version at my blog to see the EXIF.) If you do check the EXIF you might notice that this photograph was made with a very humble example of photographic technology, the Canon Digital Rebel XT. This camera is a 8MP cropped sensor “consumer” camera that I acquired when I first tested the waters of DSLR photography. (I had actually used digital cameras back in the 1990s, but not for serious photographic work.) Those who wonder which of today’s current DSLRs might enable them to produce interesting and effective images might consider what could be done with such a humble camera. ;-)

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Commentary, Locations

The Impossible Trip: Yosemite in Seven Hours?

August 15, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

That was the question that someone posed today in a photography forum I read:

We will be visiting Yosemite for approximately 7-8 hours one day the 2nd week of October as part of a weeklong trip to Tahoe (we live on the East Coast). I have been to Yosemite before (many years ago), she has not. Although we know it would take much more time to truly experience Yosemite this is the maximum time we can spend so we are looking for the top spots so we can make the most of the short time we have there.

(There was a bit more that I haven’t included here – the poster also would be staying in Mariposa the night before, and needed to drive across Tioga Pass and be in Tahoe that evening… and wanted to do photography along the way!)

Having visited the park for decades, and for an amount of time perhaps totaling well over a year altogether, and still getting to know the place, my first reaction was to ignore the question or respond with a wise-crack one-liner. Frankly, I don’t think it is really possible to do real photography of “the park” during a seven-hour visit. (With careful planning it would be possible to photograph a subject or two perhaps, but that is a different issue.) In any case, I suppressed my instinct to respond along the lines of “are you kidding!?” and instead tried to provide a realistic outline of what this experience might entail. While I’m spoiled, living only hours from the park, I do understand that others may find themselves in the area and not want to miss at least having a brief experience with such a place. And perhaps the way-too-brief visit might be enough to encourage such visitors to find a way to return for a longer visit.

So, with all of that in mind, here is what I wrote, slightly modified for this post:

You are asking quite a lot here… for a seven hour visit that will include at least 3-4 hours of driving… from Mariposa, into and around the Valley, and then up and over Tioga Pass… plus leaving enough time for the remaining hours-long drive to Tahoe.

Too bad, I’m afraid.

To be honest, the odds that you’ll be able to do much beyond “record-my-quick-visit” photography in the park are slender given the amount of time you’ll be there, your tight schedule, and the fact that you’ll be there mostly during the “blah light” time of day. To some extent, I’m inclined to recommend that you not make photography your primary goal – one reason being that trying to “get those photographs” will distract you even more from you brief opportunity to actually see and experience the place a bit. I photograph in the park frequently, so I know where and how to shoot, and I would not try to do real photography under the conditions you describe.

Having said all of that, the broad outlines of your visit must be: Continue reading The Impossible Trip: Yosemite in Seven Hours? →

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

Juniper Tree Trunk, Detail

August 13, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The heavily weathered and contorted trunk of juniper trees near Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.

These Sierra juniper trees grow in the most improbable places – on top of granite domes and slabs, with roots somehow finding sustenance in cracks and bits of gravel, and no doubt exposed to the full force of mountain storms. This is actually a group of trees that take advantage of the same crack in the otherwise solid granite, and which have grown together into what almost appears to be one very wide tree at first.

Because of their toughness, the way they grow almost into the rock, and the fact that the trees continue to live even when portions have died, it sometimes seems to me that these trees can have a character that is closer to that of the rock itself than just about any other living thing in the Sierra. The oldest branches and roots grow into the rock and have been shaped so much by their relationship to it that they can almost take on a rock-like character themselves.

These particular specimens happen to be growing part way up a dome-like granite slab above Tioga Pass Road as it passes through Yosemite’s high country. It appears that part of the treed may have been affected by fire, and dead sections have been worn and eroded by the tough sub-alpine environment. The only obvious signs of life in this close up image are the bits of moss or lichen growing in a few cracks in the wood.

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