Tag Archives: ridges

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Morning Snow, Eastern Sierra

January 23, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunrise snow along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada

This is a part of California that probably impresses newcomers as being more of a desert than anything else, with rugged high elevation sagebrush country standing in front of the rocky and even more rugged eastern escarpment of the Sierra, where the creeks and lakes and forest glades of the range’s intimate landscape are too far away to be visible. I first loved the Sierra for its alpine wilderness, and back then I was not interested in places like this, but today I find them as much part of the Sierra experience as any alpine lake.

As I do every year at about this time, I was on the “east side” for the fall aspen color. And, as happens at least once every year, I was so distracted by some other element of the terrain that I forgot about aspens for a moment and went off to photograph something else. This “something else” was a combination of things. A light morning snow storm was clearing away from the highest peaks in the early morning light of this autumn day. This light was soft on the thinning clouds and snow flurries was stronger, direct, and more stark on the foreground of sage-covered desert hills

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Forest, Ridge, and Haze

December 13, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning haze mutes the details of forested coastal ridges along the California coast

Yes, yet another of the December black and white photographs — inspired by all of the black and white “challenge” posting going on right now. This photograph comes from 2010 when I made one of my frequent visits to the Point Lobos area along the California coast south of Monterey, an area that I have visited for decades. The typical focus of those visits is the shoreline itself, which is very spectacular here and which produces a wide range of moods throughout the year.

The photograph was made at Point Lobos, but much of what you see is not actually in this state park. The foreground forest is, but the high coastal hills rising beyond are outside the park. As beautiful as the ocean is, there is a lot to see if you turn your eyes in the opposite direction, too! On this morning there was high, thin cloudiness along with a great deal of backlit atmospheric haze — perhaps my favorite conditions for photographing scenes like this one! The haze glows in the backlight, and it mutes the smaller “busy” features of the landscape, allowing the larger forms to be seen more clearly… and perhaps evoking a sense of mystery.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

First Light, Capitol Reef

November 19, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

First dawn light on the high ridges and domes at Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

Before dawn we drove across Capitol Reef National Park to the east, with a plan to head down the rural road that goes south on the park’s east side. We were hoping for interesting dawn light, but we weren’t quite ready for it when it arrived just after we exited the park and arrived at our intersection. The sun wasn’t up yet, but we could see a light show about to develop, with interesting light likely to strike the high ridge to the west and fantastic clouds appearing in the sky.

We quickly found a spot with an open view on much of the surrounding terrain, left the main “road,” grabbed camera gear and headed off to photograph. Within moment the first real light hit these domes and ridges to our west and turned the sky slightly pink. The formations were a good distance away, so I worked quickly with a long lens — and this light diminished within moments.

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

Crystal Bay, Lake Tahoe

November 9, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Blue water and light above Crystal Bay, Lake Tahoe

My annual hunt for aspen color took me to the Lake Tahoe area in early October. I realized that although I’ve gone to Tahoe for many years that I have very few photographs of the area. The reason, I think, is that so often Tahoe is a place to go for other purposes, such as skiing or a cabin stay, etc. And, frankly, Lake Tahoe is a very busy and, in many ways, quite urbanized place — so my nature and wilderness instincts are often a bit frustrated there. But it is a beautiful lake, and I could see more of that when I went there this time with photographic intentions.

The underlying reason this time has to do with a project I’m working on that is related to fall color in the mountains of California. I’ve covered many other good fall color areas, but I needed more material from the Tahoe area. So I spent an evening, a full day, and part of a morning doing some exploring. The “full day” began with a drive over highway to the Carson City, Nevada area and then north towards Reno and back toward Tahoe past Mount Rose. There were quite a few aspens along this part of the drive, but I couldn’t stop much due to road construction. Then I did something I’ve done a number of times before — I circumnavigated the lake, paying special attention to fall color. I realized that there is quite a lot of it, even if much of the color is in areas filled with cabins and resorts. The photograph overlooks the northeast part of the lake from the roadway descending from Mt. Rose.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: ridges

Morning Snow, Eastern Sierra

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Forest, Ridge, and Haze

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First Light, Capitol Reef

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Crystal Bay, Lake Tahoe

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

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