Tag Archives: rocks

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Sierra Light, Reflection

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Sierra Light, Reflection
First light on a backcountry Sierra Nevada lake and ridge

Sierra Light, Reflection. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First light on a backcountry Sierra Nevada lake and ridge

This is an older photograph that I recently came across as I went back through old image files. (I do this from time to time, and I invariably find something that I missed the first time around. ) We were on a pack trip out of the Mammoth Lakes area and on the trail for perhaps five days, moving among a series of lakes that all were under the watchful eye of the peaks in the photograph.

I was up early and perhaps a bit disappointed in the perfectly blue sky. However, as the first dawn light struck the peaks, it produced a perfect reflection in the surface of the lake, broken only by the pair of boulders, placed here in the composition to break up the mirror-image symmetry. While clouds in the sky might have been interesting, the smooth blue gradients reflected in the water make the peaks seem to float.

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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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Rocky Beach, Big Sur Coastline

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Rocky Beach, Big Sur Coastline
A rocky beach near Willow Creek, rugged Big Sur coastline

Rocky Beach, Big Sur Coastline. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A rocky beach near Willow Creek, rugged Big Sur coastline

The color of the ocean varies immensely along this California Big Sur coastline. The causes are varied. The water reflects the light, and that light can be dark and dramatic, soft and misty, or bright to the point of brilliance. The surface of the water, affected by wind and weather, has an effect — the water can be rough and textured or nearly glass smooth. The depth of the water and what lies beneath change the color — rocks, sand, kelp beds.

I’m fascinated by these locations, often in small bays, where the water is much lighter, a color that reminds me of lakes below glaciers. My theory is that in these locations the water is not very deep, and that the bottom must be sandy. In some spots I think that runoff or the action of waves on the shoreline may add sediment to the water. The little bay in this photograph is a spot where I often pause along this coast. But this time, as I returned from the southern endpoint of this day’s drive, I stopped before I arrived there and photographed it from a distance.

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.
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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

Seasonal Waterfall

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Seasonal Waterfall
Mist floats above the seasonal cascades of Sentinel Fall in late afternoon light, Yosemite Valley

Seasonal Waterfall. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mist floats above the seasonal cascades of Sentinel Fall in late afternoon light, Yosemite Valley

Tourists often visit Yosemite Valley in the very late spring and the summer, the season when the best-known waterfalls are flowing strongly — Yosemite, Bridalveil, Vernal, and Nevada falls being the most popular. They are spectacular, and they are worthy of a visit on their own. However, they are far from the only waterfalls in the Valley. (And the Valley is far from the entirety of the park!) There are many less-known waterfalls that a quite beautiful.

Many of these other waterfalls are seasonal, flowing for brief periods when the winter snow melts or coming to life mainly after storms. They tend to be quite ephemeral since the conditions that support them are often rather specific and short-lived. A number of the ephemeral Valley waterfalls are fed by streams having their origins in middle-elevation valleys that are not terribly large. As such, the bulk of winter snow melts over a short period of time… and the falls usually dry up completely. This fall is a prime example. It appears in the right conditions along the southern walls of the Valley (oddly, it is close to another, similar seasonal fall), but by summer it diminishes to a trickle and then disappears. On the day I photographed in mid-April it was flowing strongly following recent storms, producing a series of impressive waterfalls that combine to produce a spectacular drop from the rim to the floor of the Valley.

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.
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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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Rocky Shoreline And Spray

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Rocky Shoreline And Spray
Spray from surf mutes a rocky Northern California shoreline scene

Rocky Shoreline And Spray. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spray from surf mutes a rocky Northern California shoreline scene

This rocky and exposed beach, open to the Northern California Pacific Ocean, first caught my attention as I headed north on the first day of my visit to redwood country. I had made the long drive up the Central Valley, the long traverse out to the coast at Eureka/Arcata, and then traveled further north to the redwoods on my way to my final destination in Crescent City. Perhaps unexpectedly, in many spots along this coastline you don’t actually see the ocean or the shoreline itself — the route tends to be inland a ways and/or travel through forests. So when the road came around a bend near sunset and arrived at this spot, where the waves are literally only feet from the edge of the road, it made quite an impression. I stopped briefly but did not see a photograph at that time, and I travelled on.

Several days later, as I departed the Redwood National and State Parks area (and after making a final stop at Prairie Creek State Park), I again came down a hill to this beach. I stopped again, but this time the conditions were quite different. There was active surf coming onshore, and the waves had stirred up a thin, low fog that hugged the coast. Overhead higher clouds indicated the passage of a weather front. From this spot it was easy to see how littered this coastline is with the boulders and sea stacks that are left behind as the ocean erodes the shore.

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.