Tag Archives: reflection

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening Shadows, Alpine Lake

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Evening Shadows, Alpine Lake
Evening Shadows, Alpine Lake

Evening Shadows, Alpiine Lake. Kings Canyon National Park, California. September 15 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening shadows fall across an island-studded alpine lake and surrounding cliffs as the sun drops behind a nearby ridge

This lake is one of many located close to the spot where four of us spent six mid-September nights camping near 11,000′ of elevation near the spine of the Sierra in Kings Canyon National Park. We remained in one base camp location, and each day we explored more of the surrounding terrain of lakes, granite, meadows, vast bowls, ridges, and surrounding peaks. While the backpacker’s imperative is often to keep moving in order to see a lot of country, ours was to stay in one area and spend time getting to know it better. Our subjects were literally outside the doors of our tents, and we were up before dawn every morning and we didn’t return from shooting until dark.

I photographed this lake and its surroundings on multiple occasions, ranging from early morning on sunny days to dusk on a day when I shot in light rain. The appearance and mood of such a place is transformed significantly according to the light at various times of day and in response to the weather. One constant in this particular location was that large areas were often in shadow in the very early and very late hours, as steep slopes and high ridges stood between the landscape and the sun in many places. The light in this photograph is illustrative. Perhaps only minutes earlier, the final direct sun of the day had come across a high ridge to the right of my camera position and washed warm light across the water, the rocky islands and shore line, and the broken granite cliffs. But here, all that remains of the light is an intense beam of light angling down from right to left beyond the main cliff and casting only a bit of direct light on its edge. Below, light in the bowl holding the lake has turned cold and blue – a change that literally took only moments. While I think we tend to first think of that earlier, warmer light, this cold shaded light is an intrinsic element of these high places and the feeling of that light is what I wanted to capture in this photograph.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Peak and Tarn, Sunrise

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Peak and Tarn, Sunrise, Sequoia National Park
“Peak and Tarn, Sunrise” — The first dawn light touches Sierra Nevada peaks and is reflected in a rock-studded sub-alpine tarn

This month a group of us spent nine days in the Sierra Nevada back-country in Kings Canyon National Park, remaining in a single location for six nights. For a photographer, this is a special opportunity to really begin to “get inside” a small area, with time to wander thoughtfully among the features of the landscape at all hours of the day and in a range of conditions, returning more than once to revisit subjects in varying conditions. Up each morning before dawn, we would wander off in different directions to pursue whatever interested us and to find whatever we could find, return to camp during midday hours, and then wander off again in the late afternoon, usually not returning until dark. So often when we visit such places we either look from a distance or hurry through trying “not to miss anything” – but on this visit we had time to get to know individual lakes, rocks, trees, ledges, you name it.

Perhaps 10 minutes away from our camp was a broad valley filled with lakes and tarns and rocky meadows. I think I visited here at least four times, morning and evening. I had already explored the area a bit on an earlier evening when I arrived on this morning before the first light hit the peaks on the divide between the 60 Lakes Basin and Gardiner Basin, so I knew that there were many opportunities to juxtapose the waters of the quiet, cold, rock-filled tarns with the high peaks and first light.

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” from Heyday Books, is available directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fractured Granite, Reflections

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Fractured Granite, Reflection, Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks
“Fractured Granite, Reflection” — The base of a rugged granite wall reflected in the still surface of a sub-alpine Sierra Nevada lake

A few days ago I returned from a 9-day trip into the back-country of Kings Canyon National Park. I was one of a group of four photographers who traveled to a remote location at about 11,000′, where we remained for more than five days, photographing the surrounding terrain morning and evening. We followed the common routine of such work – up before dawn and off to investigate and photograph some valley or lake, back by mid or late morning for breakfast, generally hanging out and doing camp chores during the midday period when the light is often less exciting, then back out in the late afternoon for a few more hours of exploration and photography before returning to camp for a post-sunset dinner. Unlike a typical backpack trip, where one rarely stays in the same place for long, we remained in the same camp for six nights, allowing us to really get to know the surrounding area very well.

With so much time, we were frequently able to return to places that we had already visited – perhaps coming back in the evening after a morning visit, returning to try again to catch a subject that didn’t have the right light the first time, or shooting the subject in various conditions ranging from clear skies to rain. This bit of interesting rock was next to a lake that I walked to on a number of occasions, and on this morning I arrived when the lake was still in shadow but illuminated by light reflected from nearby rock faces. Because it was so early the air was very still, allowing me to photograph this very sharp reflection of the fractured granite cliff where it entered the water. A bit of vegetation just above the waterline has taken on early fall colors.

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.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Paoha Island, Mono Lake, Evening

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Paoha Island, Mono Lake, Evening
Paoha Island, Mono Lake, Evening

Paoha Island, Mono Lake, Evening. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. August 6, 2013.© Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pastel colors in evening clouds above Paoha Island reflect on the surface of Mono Lake

On this evening I ended up at Mono Lake on more or less a hunch about the clouds – thunder clouds had built to the east out over the basin and range country and even a bit over the Sierra, and I had heard a report of thunder and lightning a bit north of here, so I decided to chance an evening visit to the south shore of the lake. Mono Lake evening light can be very special, but it can also be a bit tricky. Because the tall peaks of the Sierra Nevada crest lie directly to the west, the light leaves the lake itself well before actual sunset, so you often might end up relying on the clouds themselves to provide most of the interest. Smoke from a wildfire to the south near Mammoth Lakes had also been affecting the atmosphere, creating a lot of haze and some unusual colors.

In any case, I drove out to a point along the south shore of the lake – not the well-known South Tufa site, though visible from there – and watched the mostly uninspiring light of this very hazy evening. But there I was, and there wasn’t time before the end of the light to get from Mono Lake to other places that might be interesting, so I stayed and photographed and thought about how I might be able to work with the light and conditions that were available to me. There were beautifully shaped clouds, and they rose high enough above the lower atmosphere to gain some clarity. The haze muted the shapes and colors of the far hills and the darker shape of the island. So I composed the scene to just barely hold the island and a bit of the lake at the bottom, and used that to anchor a scene that was mostly sky.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.