Reflections in new windows during reconstruction at the World Trade Center site, New York City, 2011.
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.
Granite slabs and submerged rocks at the edge of an alpine Sierra Nevada lake.
One advantage of photographing for a long time in one small area is that you may begin to see things that you initially overlooked. I’m often immediately attracted to the large scale landscape — lakes, peaks, forests, sky — and it takes more time, patience, and attention to start to start to see subtler, smaller subjects. These often constitute what has been called the “intimate landscape,” made up of distinctly non-iconic elements, and frequently offering and almost abstract quality of shape, color, and texture.
To find these things I have to slow down a lot. It is easy to become anxious about finding that Great Photograph that will knock viewers over. But those don’t come every day or even every week. Sometimes, in fact, there are long gaps between them. At one point on this trip one of my fellow photographers mentioned that he had seen me from where he was working, and that I seemed to be doing a lot of “contemplation.” Guilty as charged! In a sense, most of the work of photography may be done without the camera. Sure, the camera is in my bag or attached to my tripod, but I’m looking and considering and thinking more than I’m actually making photographs. This photograph comes from one of those moments — I had simply been walking along the edge of “our” lake, spending a lot of time just looking, when I noticed this pattern of granite and still water than I had walked past quite a few times before.
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.
The first morning light strikes a tree on a rocky peninsula reflected in the still water of an alpine Sierra Nevada lake.
Our group’s method is generally to pack in to a base camp location, and to then remain in that single location for a week or so. Many years ago, when my primary orientation was that of a backpacker, I recall being almost terrified of staying in one spot so long — I imagined that I would be bored. But the opposite turns out the be the case. I gradually push my boundaries out from the camp, learning the variables of light and conditions, and get to the know the area much more intimately. I may initially visit a spot in light that is just “OK,” but then make plans to return when it is likely to be perfect. (And when I blow it I can come back and try again!)
This lake was only a ten or fifteen minute walk away from our camp. I had visited it some years back on a pack trip, but only briefly. This time I was able to wander up there quite a few times, in both morning and evening hours. On my first visit of this trip I missed the timing on the light, arriving just after interesting light had left some picturesque snags. But on the visit when I made this photograph everything worked out just right. I arrived very early before the sunlight had made it down to lake level, and I spent time photographing in this quiet light. Then I decided to move to a feature that I had scouted on the previous visit, and that also provided the light I was looking for. Finishing that, I decided to climb a higher ridge and traverse around the side of the lake, but as I did so I looked back and saw this scene illuminated by the reflected glow of rocks that were now in sunlight. I stopped and made a series of photographs of this little peninsula, the dark and reflective lake surface, and the jumbled rocks along the shoreline.
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.
Two trees and their reflections along the rocky shoreline of a Sierra Nevada lake.
Last week I spent a few days in the Yosemite high country around Tuolumne Meadows. I had a few things in mind. Visiting one of my favorite places in the Sierra was, of course, one of them, as was making photographs in this location. I also had a more practical goal in mind — spending a bit of time adapting to elevation for an upcoming trip that has me “going high” on the first day. With that last goal in mind, each day I picked a hike that covered some miles, that climbed, and that had me over 10,000.
I had been planning to camp outside the park to the east of Tioga Pass, but much to my surprise there was still “space available” at Tuolumne Meadows when I passed through, so I changed plans and got a campsite there. This meant that when I wasn’t otherwise occupied, I could easily get to some of the well-known locations along this roadway. That’s just what I did for this photograph, getting up early and arriving here well before the day’s crowds… at an early enough hour that the place actually provided some solitude.
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.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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