Tag Archives: red

Photographs: People, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Three Umbrellas, Yosemite Valley View

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Three Umbrellas, Yosemite Valley View

Three Umbrellas, Yosemite Valley View. Yosemite Valley, California. November 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors with red and green umbrellas on a rainy day at Yosemite Valley View.

It was late in the day and I decided to take a quick run up to Wawona Tunnel Valley View. Although it was cold and wet and a bit dismal, there was no shortage of photographers… and even a few other visitors. Since I’ve shot this scene many times, I’m a bit jaded I suppose – I don’t photograph it unless it is really quite special. This evening wasn’t quite up to that standard, but the scene of these umbrella bearing valley viewers caught my attention.

“Jaded’ as I may be, I do understand the deep attraction that this place and this view have for visitors. Since I get to stand in this spot often, I have the opportunity to see and sometimes talk with people who have dreamed of standing in front of this view, who are there for the first time, and who have travelled great distances to get there. As someone I spoke with this weekend did, they often use words like “spiritual”to describe the experience. I understand, and I think the fact that people will stand here in freezing rain on a day when most of the view is blocked by clouds is further evidence of this.

keywords: people, man, woman, view, visitor, tourist, photographer, umbrella, red, green, overlook, viewpoint, rain, cloud, mist, forest, fog, tree, waterfall, bridal veil, el capitan, yosemite, valley, view, national park, california, usa, travel, landscape, stock, no parking, sign, scenic, weather

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Leaves, North Lake

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Aspen Leaves, North Lake

Aspen Leaves at North Lake. Sierra Nevada, California. October 5, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful autumn aspen leaves at North Lake, California.

After being snowed on at North Lake the previous morning, I returned again on this day and concentrated on photographing aspen leaves, branches, and trunks in a grove along the side of the lake and near the famous “tree tunnel” that so many have photographed here.

To add one point… while I love the color and light of the large aspen groves and love to photograph their astonishing colors as well, I think I have come to prefer photographing the smaller details of these groves: a few leaves, some branches, perhaps against a background containing some rocks or trees that have lost their leaves.

keywords: colorful, fall, autumn, foliage, leaves, aspen, grove, forest, red, orange, yellow, gold, trunk, branch, north, lake, califoria, usa, bishop, creek, nature, stock, sierra, nevada, range, mountains

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Poison Oak Leaves, Last Day of Summer

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Poison Oak Leaves, Last Day of Summer

Poison Oak Leaves, Last Day of Summer. Calero Hills, California. September 21, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Poison oak leaves on the last day of summer against a backgrouind of branches and early autumn colors – Calero Hills, California.

My last-day-of-summer morning hike at Calero Park began early and in cloudy weather – but the overcast saturated the colors on some of the early fall colors, including the leaves on this poison oak bush on a grassy hillside.

Yes, I was careful not to get too close! I shot this with a telephoto lens…

keywords: calero, park, santa clara, county, summer, last day, nature, california, usa, plant, flora, poison oak, leaf, branch, seed, nature, autumn, red, fall, branch, twig, hills, stock

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Forest in Reflected Light, Kern River

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Kern River Forest
“Forest in Reflected Light” — Forest scene along the Kern River in Sequoia National Park, California

In the middle of my August 2008 trans-Sierra backpack trip we spent a morning walking up the 7.5 miles between Kern Hot Springs and Junction Meadow in the upper Kern Canyon. Since I’m fond of higher country I wasn’t expecting too much on this day, but I was happy to encounter a wonderful lighting situation that I’ve seen before in Yosemite and similar valleys: the western canyon walls were in full sunlight and reflecting beautiful, warm, diffuse light across the river into the shaded forest on the east side where I photographed these trees and ferns.

A bit more about this trip. I had previously done this route — the High Sierra Trail — from the western reaches of Sequoia national Park, over the Kaweahs, down into the Kern, the up and over the Sierra Crest with a side trip to Mt. Whitney before exiting at Whitney Portal. This time I went with a group of backpacking friends, and it was wonderful to revisit this landscape.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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