Tag Archives: recess

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpenglow, Meadow

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Alpenglow, Meadow
“Alpenglow, Meadow” — Evening alpenglow comes to high peaks beyond a flower-filled meadoow, John Muir Wilderness.

Since I was unable to get to the Sierra much this season — it is a long story — I’m revisiting the archives, where I find a lot of interesting photographs that were “left behind.” This one comes from a trip into a high backcountry region with a group of fellow photographers a few years back. We set up a basecamp in a high basin just over the crest, and spent a week photographing the heck out of the surrounding terrain.

I made this photograph of evening alpenglow on the surrounding peaks from a stunning meadow that we discovered about 10 minutes walk above our camp. The meadow was open to 360 degrees of alpine terrain, and it was filled with wildflowers, even though it was near the end of August. (One of our group members, stunned when he first saw the meadow, named it “******* Julie Andrews Meadow.” I’ll leave you to guess the missing word.)

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening Light, Clearing Storm

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Evening LIght, Clearing Storm
Summer storm clouds clear in the evening over the John Muir Wilderness

Evening Light, Clearing Storm. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

One of the advantages of setting into one backcountrylocation for an extended stay is that I often get to experience the location in a variety of circumstances and conditions. I get to shoot in morning, midday, and evening light; in “perfect” blue-sky sunshine and thunderstorm conditions. And because the seasonal changes happen so rapidly in the high country, with its shortened growing season, I can watch wildflowers bloom and meadows transition from green to golden.

Along with fellow photographers, I spent a week in this spot two summers ago. On most days the sky was that Sierra Nevada “perfect blue…” that may not thrill photographers who are looking for something more interesting. But over the course of the stay those conditions changed. There was a morning with a deck of broken clouds, an night of thunderstorms, and this evening when clouds caught the light and high country pastels replaced the often stark

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

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

Meadow, Snag, And Boulder

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Meadow, Snag, And Boulder
An old snag lies across a boulder at the edge of an alpine meadow, John Muir Wilderness

Meadow, Snag, And Boulder. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old snag lies across a boulder at the edge of an alpine meadow, John Muir Wilderness.

This view looks across a high meadow, past an old snag resting on a boulder, across a low ridge covered with wildflowers, and towards a more distant ridge on the other side of the main canyon. It is, in many ways, a classic Sierra Nevada view. It is also a view of my favorite Sierra Nevada terrain — that land just below timberline where the forest of small trees opens more and more to the light, with meadows and granite areas providing open views of the surrounding peaks.

We (a group of photographers and fiends) were camped above a nearby lake for a week, spending out days in a combination of intense photography and the backcountry camaraderie that develops among such people in such places. This spot was perhaps a 15-20 minute walk from our camp, and we visited it often. On this day several of us were up before dawn and headed this way, intending to photograph the first light on mountains, meadows, and trees.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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.