Tag Archives: reflection

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

Aspens At The Shoreline

October 28, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A grove of shoreline autumn aspen trees reflects on the surface of a subalpine lake

We arrived before dawn at this little eastern Sierra Nevada lake because, well that’s what photographers do! Also we knew that it would be most effective to photograph aspen color at this location in the soft, pre-sunrise light and the shadowed light that follows before the sun rises above the peaks and shines harsh light on the scene. It was one of those wonderful autumn mornings when it actually feels like fall has arrived. The temperature was as low as 23 degrees, and we had to wear lots of layers as we went to work.

We began by photographing a familiar sight, a band of aspens that drops down the opposite mountainside, following a gully to the shores of the lake. I’ve photographed it so many times that I almost never simply make another photograph that includes the larger scene, and instead I now look for smaller components of the large scene that might be compositionally interesting. As the direct sun arrived on that subject I shifted my attention to other things that were still in the soft light, including this bit of the aspen grove right at the shoreline, reflected in the still early morning waters of the lake.

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

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mono Lake Shoreline, Evening

October 10, 2017 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

The last light on hills beyond the Mono Lake shoreline

I’ve long been fascinated by the view across this section of the Mono Lake shoreline. It contains a lot of things that I consider essential to the Mono Lake experience — tufa “towers” (though these are more like islands), the shallow shoreline with its curving edges, the larger islands and buttes, the distant mountains in the east, the immense open sky, and the textured and reflecting surface of the water.

In a way, this photograph was sort of (but not exactly!) the result of “killing time” between photographing two other subjects. I had been at a nearby area with colorful aspen trees, and had finished up there — the light was gone sooner than expected when high clouds moved in. At that point I knew that the full moon was going to rise close to sunset, so I decided to find a location along the Mono Lake shoreline to photograph it. I arrived there too early — better than too late! — and had some time to photograph other things as I waited for the moon. I went ahead and set up tripod and camera with some urgency as I noticed to last sunlight on some of those distant hills.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Reflections, Early Morning

September 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A distant ridge in very early morning light is reflected on the surface of an alpine tarn

A photograph is a curious thing. It can “tell” you things about a subject — and about the person who made the photograph — that might not be easily communicated in other ways. On the other hand, a photograph usually leaves it to the viewer to guess at many aspects of the image’s context — and the viewer either brings her/his own context or may simply be unaware. For example, I probably see this scene very differently from others who view the photograph, even those who were there or who know the place. Let me explain.

What is not “visible” in this photograph? It was made near the end of a long stay in this area, where we were camped in forest a few hundred feet lower near a lake. So by this time I knew the spot quite well, and rather than “discovering” it I was essentially revisiting and looking more closely at things I already had seen. I had crawled out of my tent before sunrise, resisting the temptation to stay in the warm sleeping bag “for just a few more minutes,” and instead unzipping the bag, pulling on a down jacket and boots, heading outside and shouldering my gear. It was still not light when I arrived here, and a made a few “warm up” photographs as I wandered around this pond in the damp meadow. To make the photograph I was standing almost as much in the lake as I was next to it. At the time of this photograph the first, warm dawn light had come and gone, though the alignment of the peaks meant that not much direct light fell on the scene. Having visiting this spot for a week now, I was also noticing that the grass on the rise across the small pond was now visibly transitioning from summer green to autumn brown. As I worked a breeze came up, ruffling the surface of the water — and this photograph was made during a brief interval when it quieted enough to reflect the distant peaks. And speaking of those peaks, as I stood here and looked at them I was also aware that in about 48 hours I would be leaving, crossing a 12,000′ pass that is visible at the low point on that ridge. The trip was coming to an end.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Afternoon Clouds, Reflections

September 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

With all of the other spectacular nearly subjects to photograph, I actually didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the lake where we were camped until near the end of our nine-day backcountry visit in late August and early September. I did walk past it regularly, sometimes with a camera and other times with a large water bucket to take back to camp. I photographed some of the nearby flowers. But mostly I departed from this area to head of to more distant locations, especially those further up the basin.

As the end of the trip approached I began to feel like I had neglected the lake, so I made time to explore it a bit more. At the upper end there was — as is typical — an extensive meadow with several meandering streams, and the meadow gradually became more marshy at the shoreline. On the far side a thin band of meadow ran between the lake the surrounding forest. The first time I went there I was too late, and light had already gone, shaded by nearby ridges. So this time I went a bit earlier in the late afternoon and arrived at the shoreline while there still was light on the trees and meadow. Even better, the air was crystal clear, impressive clouds had formed over large peaks to our south, and the wind had diminished to the point that the water’s surface was almost mirror smooth.

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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

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: reflection

Aspens At The Shoreline

Mono Lake Shoreline, Evening

Reflections, Early Morning

Afternoon Clouds, Reflections

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.