Tag Archives: reflection

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dawn Reflections

August 12, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The quiet morning surface of a subalpine lake reflects the slopes of a Sierra Nevada mountain

In early August I had the opportunity to join a group of friends for a brief backpack trip up to the Sierra Crest in the Hoover Wilderness Area along the northeastern Yosemite boundary. We packed a lot of variety into a short trip — starting at the lower end of an east side canyon and culminating along the still-snowy crest, experiencing typical Sierra summer blue sky and hours of heavy rain, seeing beautiful wildflower displays fed by strong run-off streams, and dealing with the inevitable clouds of mosquitos. This wasn’t primarily a photographic expedition for me, but almost any backcountry travel is going to include some photography, so I carried a smaller and lighter kit that still allowed me to photograph a few things.

I made this photograph very early in the morning. The rest of my group did not share my early morning habits, so when I got up and left my tent before dawn I was alone. I walked to the top of a nearby promontory from which I could overlook the lake and its surroundings as the first light arrived. I am always struck by the immense quiet and stillness found in such places in the very early morning. The air was still and the lake’s surface smooth — no one else was yet out and about, and nothing was moving aside from an occasional fish rising to feed. As the sun slowing spread across the shoulder of the peak on the other side of the lake I photographed for nearly an hour before returning to camp, where my hiking partners were just beginning to stir.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Lake, Morning

August 10, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A solitary sunrise angler stands on shoreline rocks at an alpine Sierra Nevada lake reflecting a nearby peak

During the first weekend of August I joined a group of friends for a quick backpacking trip into the eastern Sierra Nevada along the northeastern boundary of Yosemite National Park. This wasn’t primarily a photography trip so I went light, carrying a smaller system with only one lens and packing a very small tripod. The first day of the trip was, as we like to say, “interesting.” We woke up to cloudy skies that virtually guaranteed rain, and that guarantee was fulfilled in the late afternoon: I had just time to set up my tend before three hours of rain commenced! The next morning was clear, and after drying out I headed on up the trail to this beautiful lake along the crest.

After five years of historic drought and the resultant loss of permanent snow fields and damaged to vegetation, it is wonderful this year to see the changes created by last winter’s record snowfall. There are still snow banks everywhere, and even in August there were many snow crossings. On the morning after our night at this lake I got up at dawn and walked to a high place with a panoramic view of the lake and its surroundings. Just as the first sunlight began to stream across the shoulder of the peak across the lake a lone angler came to the shoreline and (thank you!) began to fish from a granite outcropping, framed against the reflection of the peak and morning sky.

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

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Tidal Flat Reflections

July 31, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Blue sky reflected in channels on tide flats, Point Reyes National Seashore

In late July I spent a day at Point Reyes National Seashore, a location that is probably just within a reasonable one-day out-and-back drive for me. (And, yes, on occasion I indulge in completely unreasonable drives to photograph certain special subjects, but that’s a story for a different post.) From looking at weather forecasts, I was hopeful that I would arrive early enough to grab a fresh pastry at Point Reyes Station (success!), make it out to the Seashore before the fog cleared (success!), and then photograph as it cleared away (less success!). I never did break completely out of the fog, and the final destination of my daylong hike was pretty thoroughly socked in.

But along the way there was some interesting light, combined with some fortunate timing. My hike took me along Drakes Estero, the large, shallow estuary that extends inland from the beaches surrounding Drakes Bay. I had not checked the tides before going, but it turned out that I arrived at a rather low tide, and the water had retreated far enough to leave the mudflats high and dry, broken only by twisting channels where a bit of water remained. The fog directly overhead darkened the mud flats, but the water reflected the blue sky from an area of clearing further in the distance. Once again, it was good fortune that made a photograph possible — these abstract blue patterns could only occur at low tide, with fog overhead, and with blue sky at the fog/clear boundary nearby.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Low Tide, Drakes Estero

July 25, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Patterns emerge and reflect the sky at low tide on a foggy morning at Drakes Estero

Although I have been visiting the Point Reyes National Seashore, just north of San Francisco, for quite a few years, it has sometimes been a challenging place for me to photograph. Perhaps it is because, with some exceptions, it generally doesn’t feature the same sorts of iconic and spectacular Pacific coast subjects found in places such as the Big Sir coast. instead there are coastal lowlands with most-treeless bluffs, thick and impenetrable forests further inland, and grand vistas across low-lying landscapes. But given enough time and patience and persistence, I think ti begins to be possible to discover a way of seeing almost any landscape, and I’m starting to understand how to see this place.

I knew it that there would be fog on this visit, and my plan/hope was that I could get there at the right time to place myself along the boundary between sun and fog, where interesting things often happen with the light. I decided to take a rather long hike (about 13 miles roundtrip) to a location that I have long wanted to visit, and I arrived at the trailhead just as the fog was beginning to thin there. After dropping through forest I arrived and crossed one arm of Drakes Estero as the tide was at its low point, revealing mud flats along the shoreline. The trail climbed again and I came around another high headland to see a more expansive view toward the fog over the ocean to the west. The low tide revealed remarkable patterns in the estero, and the shallow water reflected the deep blue sky and the thinning fog clouds.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: reflection

Dawn Reflections

Alpine Lake, Morning

Tidal Flat Reflections

Low Tide, Drakes Estero

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