Tag Archives: rain

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

Meadow Grasses, Autumn Rain

December 2, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 6 Comments

Meadow grasses made shiny by autumn rain, Yosemite Valley, California.

This fall I have been “playing around” with photographs of very dense and detailed vegetation. (Two other recent related photographs include one of aspen leaves and one of creek dogwood.) This is a difficult thing, especially with a subject whose colors seem somewhat muted, but if it works the largish prints can work both by revealing some form that might be difficult to see in all the detail and by presenting the detail itself. (As much as many of us rightfully point out that sharpness is not everything, sometimes it is pretty important!)

I noticed the subject of this photograph while shooting something quite different. I was standing in a meadow near Curry Village in light rain and using a very long lens to photograph mist and clouds drifting among trees and spires high on the Yosemite Valley rim when I happened to look down at my feet. (Always a good idea to look at the other stuff when shooting a specific subject that you came for.) I noticed the shapes of the grasses and the mixture of greens and browns with the “cool” light from the cloudy conditions. Since I couldn’t shoot this subject with the lens I was using at the moment, I went back to the other subject and made a mental note to switch lens and pay some attention to the grasses when I finished.

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.

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

Mist and Curving Ridge, Yosemite Valley

November 27, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Mist from an autumn storm flows across the crest of a curving ridge high on the walls of Yosemite Valley.

The mist from this late-October storm is flowing over the edge of a curving ridge high above the floor of Yosemite Valley, leaving just a hint of the higher, curving ridge above this pinnacle through the clouds at upper left. This photograph, like one I posted very recently, was made as I alternated my attention between the image of Upper Yosemite Fall alternately transitioning between filtered sun and obscuring clouds and small details of the closer Valley walls as seen in this image. From moment to moment there were many interesting combinations of light, cloud, trees, and rock… but they came and went quickly and almost without warning.

I usually post photographs here before printing them, and not all of the posted photographs necessarily get printed. This one is an exception in that I made the first print of it yesterday. I’m also happy to say that some very subtle details that are barely or not visible in this web jpg reproduction are there in the print, including some faint outlines of trees in the upper left portion of the frame and some details of the rocky face at lower right.

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.

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

Mist Shrouded Spire, Yosemite Valley

November 26, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A rocky spire emerges from the mist of an autumn storm along the rim of Yosemite Valley.

Still mining the backlog of photographs from my late-October visit to Yosemite Valley, here is another photograph made in the beautiful rainy and misty conditions of an autumn storm that came across the Sierra during the last weekend of the month. Since I’m crazy about photographing mist and fog, there was almost too much to shoot at times! When I made this photograph I was moving back and forth between isolated shots of small sections of the upper Valley rim blanketed by fog and light rain, and the scene of Yosemite Falls which was alternately socked in and almost clear. I kept my eyes on the cloud conditions just upwind of the falls, and when it looked like a clearing was approaching I would swing my camera that direction. Then, as thicker clouds moved across the falls and obliterated that view I redirected the camera towards small and quickly changing bits of cloud-covered landscape elsewhere along the cliffs nearby.

This is the sort of scene that makes me think more about how tremendously difficult it was/is to photograph such things with film! A subject like this is anything but static – the clouds move across and through the trees and rocks and change continuously, often so quickly that you only realize what has happened when the opportunity has passed. Accomplishing this with a few sheets of film must require not only tremendously good luck but also an excellent understanding of how these conditions evolve. I try to apply the same awareness of the conditions when I shoot such scenes… but I’m quite happy to be able to make multiple exposures quickly and without a lot of fuss!

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Tree Trunk and Wolf Lichen

November 9, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Wolf lichen on a tree trunk near LeConte Lodge comes back to life with autumn Rains, Yosemite Valley.

If you read the “technical data” at the end of this post, you know that it was dark in this forest! The location is near the Le Conte Lodge (across the road from the Housekeeping Camp) along the south side of Yosemite Valley, and in an area where the tall cliffs approach very closely to the road and trail. Because of this it is deeply shaded for a good part of the day, especially during this time of the years.

I had gone here looking for maple leaves and for the large oaks that grow near the lodge. I just happened to see this interesting bark texture as I hiked past and noticed the brilliant – almost fluorescent – greens of the lichen in contrast to the dull color of the tree. While it was dark here and the shot required a long exposure, an upside was that the soft, diffused light lowered the contrast of the scene to manageable levels.

(I originally referred to “moss” in the title and description of this photo. Thanks to “Dave” for setting me straight and identifying it as fruticose lichen.)

G Dan Mitchell Photography

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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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: rain

Meadow Grasses, Autumn Rain

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

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