Tag Archives: ridge

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Photographer, Sabrina Basin

November 14, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 15 Comments

I wandered out onto this ridge above Sabrina Basin, a spot that I know for its unobstructed view of the valley and the peaks of the Sierra crest above Sabrina Lake, far up the canyon. I had my eyes on some rocky benches that run along the top of the ridge As I approached I saw that I wasn’t the only photographer with this idea. As I crossed the rocks toward the overlook, he was working my intended camera position, so I decided to sit back and let him finish. (The ridge wasn’t wide enough for both of us to work together there.)

As I waited, I thought there was something interesting about his position above the valley, his concentration on shooting, his all-blue outfit (shirt and jeans, on a cold and rainy day!), and that wide brimmed hat. So I decided to make a few photographs of him. We barely talked at all. I hoped to get his name, but that didn’t happen. The best I was able to do was give him a card, and offer him a copy of the photo if he contacted me. Never heard from him…

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.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Sunrise, Piute Crags

November 13, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Autumn morning light on Piute Crags, reflected in the shoreline waters of a Sierra Nevada lake.

I made a lot of photographs during the past few months, traveling to the Sierra and a number of other places frequently. I often go through the photographs from the most recent shoot and post images soon after, but when I’m on to the next adventure fairly quickly I don’t always have time to get to everything in one batch before I shoot the next one. Inevitably, some images get “left behind.” Things have slowed down just a bit, and now I’m finding time to go back through some of that earlier work and pull out a few more images that I like. This is one of them.

Folks who photograph in the eastern Sierra will likely recognize this location. The long, rugged ridge of Piute Crags is striking, especially in the morning light, more so in the fall when the aspens change color, and double-especially on such a fall morning when clouds are moving in and out of the scene. I’m not going to say much more about the location beyond telling a little story. As I made this photograph there were perhaps 50 photographers set up more or less tripod-to-tripod a ways away shooting the same general subject from the place where almost everyone shoots. Their location is, indeed, a beautiful spot and I’ve shot there myself. (Heck, I shot there later on this same trip, though at a time of day when the workshops had gone elsewhere.) But there is more than one way to photograph a scene, and with a bit of thought and some wandering around it is usually possible to find a perspective that isn’t quite the same as the familiar one.

(If you know where I stood, please resist the temptation to say too much. This precise spot could not withstand the stress of dozens of photographers. Thanks!)

This photograph is 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

Tree-Covered Ridge, Mist

November 6, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Mist from an autumn storm obscures trees growing on a steep ridge near the rim of Yosemite Valley.

Since I’ve written about this series of photographs of cloud- and fog-shouded subjects in Yosemite Valley several times during the past week, I’ll keep the background short on this one. I used a long lens to isolate small scenes in which the clouds of an autumn storm alternately hid and (sometimes barely) revealed trees, cliffs, and rocky spires along the rim of Yosemite Valley.

In a few of the photographs I was thinking about how close I could get to having very little or almost no detail in the photograph and still make it work. Here the only real detail is in the diagonal of trees and rocks that is mostly obscured by the clouds, with only a few bits of tree being a bit darker. What I’m thinking of is more along the lines of suggesting the presence of the bit of cliff and trees than actually trying to show it explicitly.

This is, for me at least, a tricky thing! The temptation is to boost contrast in post to get more definition from the tree shapes, but that quickly leads to something that has a very different mood than that of the actual scene – and which can easily look phony. I think I’m heading in a direction I like here, but I don’t think I’ll know for sure until I have a chance to try a print in a week or so.

(By the way, if your monitor is even a little bit “off,” you may see some colorations in this monochrome image that aren’t really there. Sorry! :-)

This photograph is 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: Sierra Nevada

Sabrina Basin, Autumn Color and Rain

October 29, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 10 Comments

Brilliant fall aspen color on a morning of light rain in Sabrina Basin.

On the first weekend of October I had visited North Lake for some early morning photography, and on my way back to the main road I stopped just before a steep descent in a location where I knew of a ridge extending out toward the middle of the valley a bit. I had shot from this ridge before and imagined that with excellent aspen color scattered up and down the valley that it might provide a good perspective on the trees and the peaks of the Sierra crest beyond Sabrina Lake itself. So, in light rain I found my way out onto this ridge and bushwhacked around a bit to check out various possible shooting locations.

While my instinct to shoot from this general area was right, by initial instinct to go as far as possible out on the ridge turned out to be less right. It was a fun adventure, and it provided a very airy overlook… but things in the field of view just didn’t seem to line up quite right. (I did make some photographs at the first location, and I’m not writing them off yet though…) I decided that a better vantage poit my be a bit closer to where I had started since this would place the very large and very colorful aspen grove at the base of the hill a bit more centrally in the frame.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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