Tag Archives: river

Heidelberg and the Neckar River

November 17, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Overlooking old Heidelberg, Germany and the Neckar River from the Philosophen Weg

This is another “postcard” photo of Heidelberg, from our July 2013 visit. (Which was part of a larger trip that included London, Bavaria, and a bit of Austria.) The scene overlooks the Neckar River as it flows past the old town section of Heidelberg, surrounded by forest and sitting below the historic castle.

Although it is a postcard view, those people are members of our extended family, many of whom joined us on this memorable trip. (You know who you are! :-) The little overlook is along a path known as the Philosophen Weg, or “philosophers way,” that follows along the side of a ridge that parallels the river above the bank opposite the old town. We stayed within a few minutes walk of the lower end of this route and we used parts of it to walk to the old town and back. On this morning, all of us climbed the hill and then followed the path beyond the area seen here, descended to a little place for brunch, and then headed back into the town.

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

Rim Fire Zone, Morning

November 15, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hazy morning light filters across the burned hillsides in the area of the Rim Fire, California

In photographic terms this is perhaps not the most spectacular photograph, and the location is not quite a scenic icon – though it is a place that many stop and take a look on their way to Yosemite, the “Rim of the World” overlook along highway 120 between Groveland and the northern park entrance. However, this view is loaded with implications and connected to many stories.

Late this past summer, the state of California was tremendously dry after a second drought season. It wasn’t a question of whether there would be big wildfires, but more of where, when, and how many. Perhaps the biggest one of all started very near the Rim of the World overlook, and in the hot and dry conditions it quickly – some might say explosively – spread to the north, east, and south. While many think of it as “the Yosemite fire” – and it did burn a lot of terrain inside the park – it really was more of a “Yosemite area” fire. Because of the conditions – the long-term conditions of drought and the immediate conditions of heat and wind – the fire apparently did very serious damage to the forests in the are.

Shortly after the fire was contained, I thought that I might drive through the park on Tioga Pass Road to get to and from the eastern Sierra in early October. In fact, the roads had opened up again by that time, but snow closed Tioga Pass on my trip to the west and we ended up coming back over Sonora Pass. So the post-fire conditions of this area, which is very familiar to me after years of visits, were still an unknown when I drove to The Valley on October 30 for a few days of autumn photography. Passing into the first fringes of the burned areas along highway 120 things didn’t look all that different than they do after any wildfire – some areas badly burned, some singed, and others that mostly escaped the fire. I decided to stop at the Rim of the World overlook, which was pretty much the only place where stopping was allowed, and get out and take a look. I was floored by the scale of the fire. It had come from behind my position, burned down and across the deep canyon of the Tuolumne River, up the canyon walls on the far side, and then across a vast series of receding ridges. Some smoke and haze still seemed to be coming from the area, and early morning light glanced across the ridges, with their dead trees. In the far distance there is a low peak with a bit of early season snow.

I have seen quite a few fires in the park over the past few decades. One not far from here destroyed a large area of forest a few decades ago – and on this trip, ironically, I was noting that new evergreen trees are finally taking hold there. Later several very bad fires blew up from near Foresta, doing terrible damage to the section of Crane Flat Road descending towards The Valley. There have been others. In most of these cases – though I wondered in the case of the most recent Foresta fire, too – it seemed that I could watch the forest recover and return to something resembling what I remember. However, given the intensity and scale of this fire, I wonder if I’ll have that opportunity where the Rim Fire burned?

To end on a cheerier note, a couple of other observations. Even near badly burned areas, I did see sections where this fire only burned some of the vegetation and a few that seemed to have been completely spared. And when I got to a spot inside the park along highway 120 where I often stop to photography dogwood trees in the spring and fall, a spot that seemed like it might have been within the burn zone on the maps, I found my little spot completely intact, with the dogwoods turning to fall colors.

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

Merced River, Forest, Autumn

November 13, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Colorful autumn trees among burned forest and reflected in the water of the Merced River, Yosemite Valley

This is, in several ways, a “quieter” photograph than some that I have posted recently. The location is along a section of the Merced River in Yosemite Valley that is probably not really seen by more than a handful of people, if that, on any given day.The spot is not special enough, if specialness is definable, to warrant its own particular name. (However, a few people do have a name for it – but it isn’t really to be shared here.) So the scene itself was, objectively speaking, quiet – the only others around were a couple of photographer friends working individually nearby, there was no wind, the river was as calm and quiet as I recall seeing it – barely even flowing, and almost nothing was moving in the forests along its banks.

There was another kind of quiet, too – the mental quiet that I often look for while photographing, especially in places like this. It is easy to let my mind wander – is this the right place to stop? should I check email before leaving the car? is there anything here that will make a great photograph? might it be easier to shoot someplace more predictably beautiful? what if I can’t find anything to shoot? Leaving my car behind and shouldering my tripod and bag of gear, I walked down to the river bank and began looking. My notions about what I might photograph are not so important – being open to what I might find to photograph is. When you first begin to photograph, it can sometimes take a long time to get into the frame of mind that allows you to slow down and become engrossed by what you see, to the point that you lose track of time and even where you are, focusing entirely on the seeing and the photographing. Eventually, I think you can learn to let this happen more quickly – not that it always does – and to avoid the trap of trying too hard to steer the process and to instead be quiet and open to what you see. And so, thinking back on this evening, as I made my last photographs before heading home, I recall the sense of quiet focus as much as the objective features of the scene itself.

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

Autumn Afternoon, Merced River Cottonwood Trees

November 7, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hazy autumn afternoon light on golden cottonwood trees growing along the banks of the Merced River, Yosemite Valley

As I try to do every fall, I visited Yosemite Valley for a few days right at the end of October so that I could photograph fall color and other seasonal subjects. I typically target my visits for near the end of the last week of the month, since at about this time the cottonwood, big leaf maple, black oak, and dogwood trees can produce beautiful colors and the meadows turn wonderful shades of tan and brown and gold. There are other benefits to visiting at this time of year, too – far fewer people, cooler temperatures, availability of campsites, and I often run into friends and other interesting people in the Valley.

I’m a big fan of backlit trees, and I have shot in this area of meadows and cottonwood trees and river bank many times before. In the afternoon the light begins to come into the valley from the low sun in the west and while trees can be backlit, some of the granite cliffs are already in shadow. If there is a bit of atmospheric haze, I like it even more! On this afternoon I decided to poke around along the banks of the Merced in this area where it flows through a series of bends among meadows and forest – and there were backlit cottonwood trees galore to work with!

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: river

Heidelberg and the Neckar River

Rim Fire Zone, Morning

Merced River, Forest, Autumn

Autumn Afternoon, Merced River Cottonwood Trees

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