Tag Archives: ridge

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Inlet Stream, Subalpine Lake

July 11, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sierra Nevada ridge, forest, and lake viewed from the meadowy inlet stream

I made this photograph on a lovely late-summer morning at a Sierra Nevada backcountry location where we camped for about a week a while ago. Camped nearby, hidden among trees and boulders on a small glacial moraine, we woke each morning, emerged from tents, and were immediately in a target-rich photographic environment. We had choices — wander the nearby meadow and lake, head up the hill to bigger meadows, or embark on a longer hike above timberline.

The lake is more or less a Sierra classic. It sits on a bench above a deeper canyon, with low hill at the outlet end suggesting that the terrain was scooped out by glaciation. Above (and behind my camera position) the valley continues, rising well above treelike and culminating at a ring of high peaks. A river drains to the west in the valley between the lake and the more distant ridge. I made the photograph in the morning as the first direct light hit the meadow and the distant mountains were still in shadow.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Reflection, Morning Shadows

July 9, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Shadows on lakeside meadow as morning light hits Sierra Nevada peaks

This is a scene of what I regard as classic Sierra Nevada scenery. It also has the three main ingredients of many mountain photographs: rocks, trees, water. I made the photograph in the morning, probably most of the way through this morning’s photographic work. A typical morning in such a place begins with an alarm going off (quietly!) well before sunrise, followed by rolling out of the tent, grabbing camera pack and tripod, and heading off to some likely location to find morning light. Photography begins before sunrise, often moves quickly as the first direct light hits the landscape, and then evolves with the changing morning light… until, several hours later, it is time to wander back to camp and fix coffee and breakfast.

We were camped very close to this lake — though you could have easily walked past it and completely missed our camp, which was hidden away in the trees. We remained here for the better part of a week, allowing plenty of time to become familiar with the local landscape, photograph in a range of conditions, and make longer excursions away from camp. I actually did not photograph this closest lake much until near the end of our stay, when I realized that it was now or never. I made this particular photograph in the morning, well after sunrise but a few minutes before the sun peeked over nearby peaks to illuminate the shoreline meadow.

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

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

Sentinel Dome, Sunrise And Clouds

May 10, 2018 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Rays of morning sun above Sentinel Dome cross a ridge and illuminate forest and clouds

You can spend quite a few photography days without finding special light, and then unexpectedly run headfirst into something remarkable. That was the story on this late April visit to Yosemite Valley to photograph the transition from winter to spring. (I had photographed in cold and snow there a week prior, but now the snow was gone and the weather was warming.) The first two days were fine — typical spring days in the Valley — but it was challenging to find special light. Then on my final morning luck was with me. When I started for the Valley well before sunrise I could see that the sky was clouded over, and it promised to be a gray morning. But as I drove I started to see some light sneaking in under the clouds, and I guessed that the cover might be breaking up by the time I got to the Valley.

I arrived at the first good view of the Valley just as the sun was coming up. The Valley was still mostly gray and cloud-shrouded, but the clouds to the east were thinner and breaking up. Before long the clouds thinned even more and the sunlight began to break through. The big view was still too gray for my taste at this point, so I put a long lens on the camera and began to look for small sections of the scene with dramatic light. Beyond Bridal Veil Fall the sun had just risen above the top of Sentinel Dome, and its light was streaming down across ridges and through trees.

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

Wildfire, Forest, and Ridge

November 9, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning wildfire smoke settles among forest trees below a burned ridge

Yes, another photograph of wildfire smoke, made on a late October morning along the Glacier Point road, where a fire had been smoldering for weeks just to the east and south of the road.I arrived well after dawn, but still at a reasonably early hour when the winds had not yet stirred the fog that had settled into valleys and among the forest trees. The fog stretched a good distance across the low valley east of my vantage point, and the combination of the foreground trees and the thinner trees running up the ridge caught my attention.

This photographic subject is a bit magical. At this early hour, when the smoke is backlit, everything seems to glow. Although the still air permitted the smoke to pool in low places and among the trees overnight, by this time of the morning the air begins to move and the smoke drifts among the forest trees. And this ephemeral landscape of smoke is in constant motion, changing as a bit of wind passes through, as the angle of the sun changes throughout the day, and as it drifts among these trees. I made a small number of exposures of this precise composition, and when I look at them know I can see that each differs from the others in important ways.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: ridge

Inlet Stream, Subalpine Lake

Reflection, Morning Shadows

Sentinel Dome, Sunrise And Clouds

Wildfire, Forest, and Ridge

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