Tag Archives: ridges

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Trees, Ridges, and Clearing Storm

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Trees, Ridges, and Clearing Storm
Mist floats among ridges as a Sierra summer storm clears.

Trees, Ridges, and Clearing Storm. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Mist floats among ridges as a Sierra summer storm clears.

This is (yet another) photograph from the evening when our two days of rainy weather finally broke. The rain stopped, the clouds thinned, openings appeared, and fog drifted back and forth among the peaks and ridges as sunset approached. I found a high, exposed place with a clear view of the surrounding terrain and settled in to photograph the show.

To our south the terrain rose toward higher lakes and then to a long and jagged high ridge. At first the view in this direction was obscured by fog and clouds, but as the evening wore on gaps appeared. At times the sky was briefly visible and the more distant peaks began to appear a bit more clearly.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Ridge, Fog, Sunset

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Ridge, Fog, Sunset
Post-storm fog drifts among trees and domes at sunset, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

Ridge, Fog, Sunset. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Post-storm fog drifts among trees and domes at sunset, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

The clouds finally began to break up “for real” late on the second day of our recent Sierra Nevada backcountry stay. First the rain stopped, then we began to see a few thin spots in the clouds, and eventually faint areas of blue sky appeared above the peaks through a veil of mist. After more than twenty-four hours of rain, we were ready to head out and make some photographs!

I did not know what the evening would bring so I decided to walk to a high spot with a 360-degree view, from which I might photograph a range of subjects. As the clearing continued, clouds of fog rolled back and forth among the nearby ridges and through the forest. One moment I’d photograph mist in trees, and the next I would turn and photograph light breaking through among the peaks. This scene unfolded to my east as sunset light began to color the fog and clouds over lower 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Ridges and Shadows

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Ridges and Shadows
Morning light creates stark contrasts between ridges and shadows on Death Valley badlands landscape.

Ridges and Shadows. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning light creates stark contrasts between ridges and shadows on Death Valley badlands landscape.

Believe it or not, I’m still not quite done with this year’s Death Valley photographs. I’ve been sitting on this one for a week or two, pondering several things about it, but now I think I’m done with it. It may be the final one from this year’s very productive visits to the park. We’ll see! (Looking ahead, there’s a good chance that a year from now I’ll review the files and find at least one more.)

This is perhaps the place to again mention the typical cycle I go through when I return with photographs from a location. I open up the collection, and a few typically jump out at me immediately. These will not necessarily be “the best” of the group, but they are photographs that are fairly straightforward to process and work more or less as I expected when I exposed them. Then I go back through the files and begin to work on likely prospects that will require more thought. (Often the best work comes from this pass.) But this isn’t the end of it, and next I look again, this time trying to see the work with a different perspective. Here I often “discover” how to “see” photographs that did not initially seem like they would work. Finally (or maybe not?) I make one more serious traverse of the work to see what I might have missed. And with that — at least until I come back to the files in a year or so — it is on to new projects!

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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, Photographs: Southern California

Desert Mountains, Morning Haze

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Desert Mountains, Morning Haze
Glowing morning haze delineates a series of ascending ridges in desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains, Morning Haze. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Glowing morning haze delineates a series of ascending ridges in desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert haze has become my friend. I used to be frustrated by it — the desert light I wanted was the crisp light of perfectly clear skies. I struggled with haze, with its effects on colors, its lower contrast, and its muted details. (To be honest, sometimes it still challenges me!) But, as is often the case, when I live with something for a while I start to figure out how to see it, and I often end up attracted to it. Now I actively search for just the right kind of soft atmospheric haze.

I had plenty of it on this morning. I was out before dawn, of course, and after finishing with my initial early morning subject I traveled to a higher location with immense and panoramic views of the landscape. The bright light beyond these mountains was making the haze luminous and almost eliminating fine details, leaving the outlines of the successive ridges receding toward the morning sky.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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