Tag Archives: ridge

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Clouds Rest, With Resting Clouds

August 8, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter evening clouds swirl around the snow-covered ridge of Clouds Rest, Yosemite

This will be the final photograph in this recent series of winter Yosemite Valley photographs from our late-winter 2014 visit to the park. As I hope for when I go there at this time of year, there was interesting and variable light, clouds that ranged from scattered to socked-in, the usual assortment of meadows and trees and rocks. We had the better part of three days to explore.

On this evening we ended up at that most iconic of iconic landscapes in Yosemite, the Tunnel View overlook. I often either pass by Tunnel View, or perhaps stop and get out to look around a bit before heading on. Being lucky enough to live a reasonable drive from the park and to visit the Sierra often, I’ve become a bit more selective about when I’ll stop there and take out the camera. On this visit, as clouds came in, many of the other potential subjects in the Valley were under rather poor light, so I guessed that there was a chance that we might “get something” (or maybe not) from this higher overlook. The clouds were challenging. At times they obscured many interesting things, and most of the time the interesting light was blocked. However, for a few moments they cleared partially at the far end of the Valley and it was briefly possible to see the sunlit and snow-covered slopes of Clouds Rest and a few other points in the distance.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Ridgeline, Trees, Winter Fog

June 19, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A winter fog obscures trees along a ridgeline high above Yosemite Valley

It may be surprising to hear that this is a color photograph. Well, the camera thought so, but you cannot easily tell by looking at the image. I was shooting another nearby subject, or perhaps waiting for that subject to some light that would make it more “photographable,” when I looked up to see this fog enveloping the high tree-covered ridges above this part of Yosemite Valley, with the atmosphere gently glowing in the backlight.

The photograph is a reminder for me that it is often better to see what you can make of the conditions you find than to lament that the conditions are not what you hoped for. (OK, you can go ahead a lament a little bit—i think that is normal!) While I often go to a place perhaps expecting or hoping for particular conditions, I’ve learned that quite often the most interesting opportunities are not those that we can predict but those that surprise us or those that we find. If the atmosphere of the place, apart from your initial notions of how it might be photographed, is something that attracts you, then it must be possible to make some kind of effective photograph of that thing that you like. You might be hoping for colorful sunset light, but you know—or at least I hope you do!—that a foggy evening, or a rainy evening, or even a hazy evening of soft light can be a wonderful thing, too.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Red Rock Towers

May 14, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A band of red rock towers high on a ridge in the Amargosa Range, Death Valley National Park

This is another in what might be termed the “Unspectacular Death Valley” series. ;-) As I have mentioned before, most of the terrain of this park and of similar places does not consist of high contrast, intensely colorful scenery. In reality, the color palette of much of the park is quite subtle, consisting primarily of tans and grays, with dark shadows, some reddish rock, occasionally other colors of rock, and few brilliantly colorful plants. (An exception may occur during a short period in a spring that follows an unusually wet winter, when some areas my show profuse wildflower blooms. And, of course, when shooting in golden hour light almost any landscape can become much more intense.) Over time I have come to like being in this seemingly plain landscape, even in the middle of the day.

These formations, some red rock outcroppings just below a ridge at the head of a small valley, are in an area I have visited a number of times. I’ve looked up at them and wondered how I could photograph them. This time I got a bit of help from the weather. The overall light was softened a bit by clouds, and the same cloud system gave me a darker gray sky beyond the ridge rather than the more typical plain blue sky. All of this brings out the color of the red rocks—which feel like a small, far-west outpost of Utah!—and allow the subtle colors of the vegetation to be just a bit clearer.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Spring Flooding, Tuolumne Meadows

May 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Tuolumne River overflows its banks on a spring evening, Tuolumne Meadows

This is another, slightly different view of a scene that I shared recently, photographed at Tuolumne Meadows on the weekend when Tioga Pass Road over the Sierra crest opened for the 2014 season. As is my habit, I broke free and made it up there to celebrate the beginning of a new high country season. It was a quick trip—a 21 hour 550 mile drive that took me across the range to the Mono Lake area and some nearby sights on the “east side.” Later in the day I reversed course and headed back up to Tioga Pass and began my homeward trip, stopping to spend a good part of the evening in Tuolumne Meadows, where strong wind blew as the golden hour light began to develop.

This scene is full of things that I know well. I have visited the general area of Tuolumne Meadows since I was a child and my father took me and one of my brothers up there on the first camping trip that I can remember. Every spring (or early summer in wet years) when I return I look for this area of the meadow where the Tuolumne River overflows its banks and produces a temporary lake, even in a very dry year like this one. On a number of occasions I have hiked on a trail that crosses from right to left just below the bright granite peak in the upper left, heading for a pass below Ragged Peak and then on to Young Lakes, which lie just beyond that highest ridge. (Just below and to the left of the granite peak lies a beautiful area of subalpine meadow with scattered rocks and extensive fields of lupine.) On this evening there were few people in the meadow, as the campground was not yet open and not many people were still up here so late in the day, so I was able to wait quietly for the clouds and the light to line up just right.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: ridge

Clouds Rest, With Resting Clouds

Ridgeline, Trees, Winter Fog

Red Rock Towers

Spring Flooding, Tuolumne Meadows

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