Tag Archives: reflect

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Flow #2

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Autumn Flow #2
“Autumn Flow #2” — The surface of the Merced River, broken by boulders, reflects golden fall colors from nearby trees.

This is a companion image to another photograph that includes some the same rocks but in vertical/portrait orientation. The scene is an otherwise unremarkable section of the Merced River in Yosemite Valley that probably doesn’t merit a stop from most visitors to the Valley. (Though quite a few park photographers have stopped to make images in this general area.) The appeal is the combination of rocks (at least during periods of low flow in the river), the patterns of moving water, and reflections.

Speaking of reflections, they are the source of the warm colors in the water. They include the light on a very large sunlit cliff on the far side of the valley and the colors of autumn leaves in the forest on the opposite river bank. To notice a scene like this you have to look past what your eyes likely want to see (water and rocks) to see the intense color reflected in the water.

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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


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Flow

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Autumn Flow
“Autumn Flow” — The surface of the Merced River, broken by boulders, reflects golden fall colors from nearby trees.

I was in Yosemite Valley on the last day of October to photograph the fall colors of oak, maple, and dogwood trees. It may seem odd to some, but I barely photographed the iconic formations of the park at all, instead wandering around looking for more intimate views that suggest autumn. I made this photograph at a place along the Merced River where I’ve stopped for years, a spot where I know that I can find interesting reflected light at the right times of day.

This is a somewhat long exposure, made that way to allow the surface of the water to blur a bit. The location is in deep shadows during much of the day, but here the water reflects the surrounding trees and the light from high cliffs across the valley.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Rock, Flowing Water

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Rock, Flowing Water
A Sierra stream flows around a rock, reflecting trees and sky.

Rock, Flowing Water. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A Sierra stream flows around a rock, reflecting trees and sky.

You might think that when visiting a place with the spectacular scenic views found in Yosemite that I might find something a bit more… profound to photograph. Well, I do photograph those things, too. But these days I’m often more interested in looking for less-obvious things that perhaps have not ever been photographed. Like some rock sitting in an anonymous stream. But such rocks and such streams are as much a part of the experience of this place as the waterfalls, cliffs, and alpine peaks.

For years I had passed by a particular little bit of creek, glimpsed quickly as I passed by on my way to other places. On this day I finally stopped and took the time to poke around a bit here, and I made a few photographs of shallow water flowing over granite slabs. Here the water passes around a large rock that somehow ended up in the middle of the stream, and the moving surface of the creek reflects the surrounding forest, mountains, and the sky.

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: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Lake, Reflections

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Alpine Lake, Reflections
Alpine terrain reflected in the surface of a small mountain lake, Kings Canyon National Park.

Alpine Lake, Reflections. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Alpine terrain reflected in the surface of a small mountain lake, Kings Canyon National Park.

This complex landscape is another from my 2013 summer expedition into the Kings Canyon National Park backcountry with a group of fellow photographers. Every summer (but not this past one, unfortunately) we have made our way to some interesting Sierra Nevada backcountry location and marooned ourselves there for a week or more, spending the time carefully exploring the surrounding terrain and photographing the heck out of it.

This particular trip took us into a high region of alpine and subalpine landscapes full of lakes, and required us to cross two very high passes to get there. We set up our base camp at the end of a lake in a small valley filled with similar lakes, and every day I wandered out into this increasingly familiar terrain. This photograph was made perhaps 10 or 15 minutes from my tent, in a place that was close to timberline. There were still some small trees here, but the surrounding slopes and ridges were almost entirely rocky.

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.

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