Tag Archives: rocks

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Shoreline, Early Morning

Image Leave a comment
Shoreline, Early Morning
Fractured rocks and late-season grasses along the shoreline of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake.

Shoreline, Early Morning. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fractured rocks and late-season grasses along the shoreline of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake.

Does this scene look cold? It was! I had headed out around the circumference of the lovely subalpine lake next to which we had been camped for several days, with a goal of reaching the outlet stream at the far end of the lake. On the scale of Sierra Nevada backcountry lakes, this one is perhaps a bit larger than the typical size, but not extraordinarily large. However, the hike around the lake took longer than expected — party due to my tendency to stop a lot to look and photograph, and partly due to its complex shoreline. It is lined with small bays that necessitate either an inland loop or an ascent across the intervening land.

This photograph was made near the bottom of one of those bays. Because the tall peaks to the east — seen here at the upper left — blocked the morning sun until several hours after actual sunrise the area was still in shade… and cold and a bit windy. For this photograph I did something that is a bit unusual for me. I put my ultra-wide-angle lens on the camera, got very close to my foreground subject, and took advantage of this setup’s ability to include the near and the far in the frame.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 |
Email

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

Commentary

Grassy Shoreline, Talus Fields

Image Leave a comment
Grassy Shoreline, Talus Fields
Grasses grow along the marshy shoreline of an alpine lake backed by a glaciated terrain and a huge talus field

Grassy Shoreline, Talus Fields. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Grasses grow along the marshy shoreline of an alpine lake backed by a glaciated terrain and a huge talus field

To illustrate just how long it took the sun to reach our camp near this subalpine lake, by the time I made this photograph I had already been up long enough to walk the length of the lake, make many photographs, and walk nearly all the way back to camp! Sunrise was actually much earlier, but the very tall ridge (see in the distance in the photograph) blocked the light for the first few hours of the day. If you look carefully you may notice the upper slopes are softly lit by light reflected from peaks on the other side of the valley, behind and to the right of my camera position.

In this extended morning twilight the quality of the place was special. It was quiet and still — the water on the lake was still mirror-like. Soft light gently illuminated the scene, and a few subjects that were more colorful stood out — as seen in the early autumn colors of some of the foreground grasses. It was a time to walk slowly and alone along the shoreline, taking my time to enjoy and photograph this quiet landscape.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 |
Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

From Shore to Shore

Image Leave a comment
From Shore to Shore
Both shorelines of a rock-bound alpine lake

From Shore to Shore. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Both shorelines of a rock-bound alpine lake

The Sierra Nevada is sometimes called the Range of Light, in recognition of (or so I think) the open quality of its forests, the tendency toward summer sunshine, and the resulting abundant light. It is a very different place than, say, the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. There are day-to-day exceptions to the rule, but overall the characterization holds. As a matter of fact, on our mid-to-late September backcountry visit this year we experienced an unbroken string of perfect blue sky days for over a week. (By the way, photographers don’t necessarily regard that as a good thing!)

However, it is quite possible to experience different sorts of light in these mountains. Obviously, anyone who has experienced a major winter storm in the Sierra has seen the other end of this spectrum. Thunderstorms do sweep through in the summer months. And in some places where the mountains are close, tall, and very steep there can be lengthy “blue hour light” at the start and end of the day. I made this photograph in such a place, where the sun didn’t arrive until many hours after sunrise, and the shadows returned hours before sunset. In this light, the rocky terrain around this lake took on an appearance that doesn’t fit with that “range of light” description.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 |
Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Talus Field, Shoreline, Reflections

Image Leave a comment
Talus Field, Shoreline, Reflections
The rocks at the bottom of a large talus field are reflected in still waters.

Talus Field, Shoreline, Reflections. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The rocks at the bottom of a large talus field are reflected in still waters.

The general area where we staying the Sierra backcountry last week featured lots of broken and fallen rock — partly from glacial sources and partly from later erosion — along with tall ridges that gave us hours of soft, shaded light in the morning and the evening. Broken talus slopes are common in the higher reaches of the Sierra, but this area seemed to have an exception amount of the stuff. These talus fields often contain mixtures of rock types, as they are frequently carried down from high peaks.

The talus slope photographed here was just across the lake from where we were camped, so I was able to walk over a few hours before the first sunlight finally made it over the peak to our east. The jumbled and jagged rocks and boulders covered the slope right down to (and beyond) the edge of the lake. In the shadow of the nearby mountain the light was soft and quite blue, the latter because almost all of the illumination was coming from that giant light panel we call the sky. I photographed for quite a while, until a breeze came up and broke the quiet surface of the water.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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