Tag Archives: ridges

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Meadow, Mountains, Storm Clouds

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Alpine Meadow, Mountains, Storm Clouds
An alpine meadow as storm clouds build over mountain peaks

Alpine Meadow, Mountains, Storm Clouds. John Muir Wilderness, California. August 28, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An alpine meadow as storm clouds build over mountain peaks

Over the next week or two, sandwiched between photographs of other subjects, I will share a set of at least four photographs from more or less this same spot, all made the same day. The location was quite special, a broad meadow just a bit below 11,000′ with views toward an impressive range of peaks on the other side of a river valley. The meadow itself was still green, even though it was the end of August, with wildflowers everywhere. Everyone in our party returned to it frequently, morning and evening, and tried to work with its many subjects.

As I introduce the several photographs of the spot, I’ll try to say something about each one, including something about the vision of the mountains that was on my mind as I created it. There were several things at work in this version. The meadow itself is what initially brought me here, of course, and the bright light that fell on it is beautiful, but the photograph includes other elements. The primary secondary element — or is it actually primary? — is the range of jagged, alpine peaks in the distance. I placed the group of small trees in the foreground to balance the image and to lead the viewer into the scene — from the trees, across the meadow to the small pond, then past the small band of further trees and on to the peaks, and then to the sky. The sky is another important element, and emphasizing it was the reason that I used a wider lens and put the horizon relatively low in the frame. (My skies are frequently constrained to the very top of the image… if I include sky at all.) I was struck by the contrast between the sharp peaks and foreground light and how these elements contrasted with the dark and brooding quality of the sky beyond the peaks, where a large thunderstorm was brewing.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

High Peaks, Evening Light

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High Peaks, Evening Light
Rugged peaks tower above canyons and glaciated ridges, John Muir Wilderness

High Peaks, Evening Light. John Muir Wilderness, California. August 28, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rugged peaks tower above canyons and glaciated ridges, John Muir Wilderness

This set of peaks is bound to figure in quite a few of the photographs that I’ll be sharing from our recent extended backcountry photography trip into the John Muir Wilderness of the Sierra Nevada. Because we were located on a high, open bench directly across the canyon from them they were a constant presence, visible virtually anywhere we walked.

This photograph was made from a location a few hundred feet higher than our camp. Ascending the valley above our camp revealed more and more spectacular country — large high meadows full of wildflowers, a steam winding down the mountainside and pooling in a small tarn in the middle of a meadow, and above that access to the whole upper basin. I made this photograph late in the day after climbing up the slopes a bit to get some elevation on the glaciated moraine and forest below, opening up the views to the south into this rugged area of valleys and ridges.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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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

Morning Above The Meadow

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Morning Above The Meadow
First light comes to ridges and peaks above a subalpine meadow

Morning Above The Meadow. Yosemite National Park, California. July 27, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First light comes to ridges and peaks above a subalpine meadow

Nothing was yet open along Tioga Pass Road when I visited in late July. Typically all of the campgrounds would be open by this point, but an exceptionally heavy winter snowfall had delayed the process of clearing the road and opening up the high country. There was still a lot of snow at around 10,000′ and higher, and water was running high and fast everywhere. Early in the morning I drove back into the park from my camp site just east of the crest, heading down to Tuolumne Meadows to make some early morning photographs.

I’m often a bit surprised by how few people who camp at Tuolumne manage to make it out to the meadow for first light, missing what is arguably the most beautiful time of the day. On this day, with the campground closed, there was almost no one else at the meadow — I had the place almost entirely to myself. I stopped at the lower end of the meadow and looked back to the east, across the meadow and then a series of successive ridges, including a couple of well-known domes, and finally to the summit of Mount Dana. The sun had just risen on the east side of the range, and its light was beginning to pour over the ridges of the Sierra crest.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

West From The Panamints

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West From The Panamints
Early evening view looking west from ridge of the Panamint range, Death Valley National Park

West From The Panamints. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early evening view looking west from ridge of the Panamint range, Death Valley National Park

I made this photograph on the evening of my arrival in Death Valley. The drive is always a long one, taking most of the day when I come straight from the San Francisco Bay Area. This time I had started in the Carrizo Plains National Monument, where I had stopped overnight to join friends for some photography of this year’s extraordinary wildflower bloom. That meant that even though I had a slightly shorter drive I got a later start — I wasn’t about the leave the Carrizo without making some morning photographs, and then I explored a slower route through the Temblor Range on my way out to the Great Central Valley before continuing on to Death Valley.

My Death Valley plans were not set in stone, so when I arrived in the park I wasn’t quite sure where I would go the first night. I had some thoughts of heading out to a remote canyon area to camp, but given the late arrival I started to consider simply camping at Stovepipe Wells. When I got there and it looked like the wind might kick up a dust storm I changed my mind again and headed up into the Panamint Mountains. (Anyone who has endured a Stovepipe Wells dust storm will sympathize!) In any case, I set up a camp in the mountains and then headed out to this remote ridge top location, a place from which I have often photographed in the early morning. The haze was a bit thick looking to the east, but what a view there was to the west! In that direction the same haze glowed in the backlight of the evening sun with ridges receding into the distance and culminating at the crest of the Sierra Nevada.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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