Tag Archives: rugged

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Flurries, Morning

October 26, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An early autumn weather front drops morning snow flurries along the rugged Sierra Nevada crest near Mount Morrison

This is another photograph from the final morning of our September photographic trip to the eastern Sierra Nevada. We were surprised to find it snowing lightly when we work up in Mammoth that morning, since there had been no mention of such weather in the previous day’s forecast. We decided to stick with our plan of making a big loop out to the east of Mammoth Lakes and then north by a back route to Mono Lake and highway 395 for our return trip. So we headed down the road out of Mammoth Lakes in the pre-dawn near-darkness and then started out across Long Valley.

Out in the valley as dawn approached, it became clear that the atmosphere was doing some very interesting things along the eastern edge of the Sierra. At first we saw a very strong weather cell over Mammoth Lakes that appeared to be dropping quite a bit of rain or snow, even though where we were it was virtually clear overhead. So we stopped and set up to make some photographs of these conditions. We continued shooting after the first red dawn light and watched as the snow squall worked its way south along the Sierra crest. In this photograph there is light snow falling along the ridge near Mount Morrison, but since the clouds did not extend to the east, the early morning light is hitting the upper slopes of this line of peaks.

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: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Mt. Humphreys, New Snow, Sunrise

October 18, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunrise light illuminates overnight snow on Mt. Humphreys and peaks of the Sierra Nevada crest above the Buttermilks

This was the morning after a day of October snowfall up and down the Sierra Nevada. The previous day we had photographed in snow almost the whole day as we traveled east over Carson Pass, then via Monitor Pass to highway 395, and continued south past Walker, Bridgeport, Lee Vining, and Mammoth (where the snow finally let up) and on to Bishop. Photographing aspen color in the snow was a special treat, since it combined the autumn ritual of aspen chasing with the clear indication that the cold season was on its way, a message delivered by snow.

That night I realized that the snow would certainly coat the peaks of the eastern Sierra the next morning, so instead of heading straight up to photograph aspens, I decided that we would instead go to a place in the sage country above Bishop from which a great section of the eastern Sierra is visible, to see if we might get dawn light on the snow-covered mountains. We arrived – of course! – before sunrise, and the jury was still out. There were clouds floating over the crest and, more importantly, there were clouds high up in the White Mountains to the east. Mornings like this have the potential to either be a complete bust if the clouds block the early light, or to bring especially beautiful conditions if the dawn light finds a way to shine through breaks in the clouds. We got our breaks, and on top of that the clouds above the crest began to break up just as the sunlight arrived. In this photograph, a fluffy cloud has been considerate enough to momentarily park its peak-shaped form above Mt. Humphreys, a bit of light hits the peaks, a band of light lower down illuminates the base of the snow-covered escarpment, and a bit of reddish light even hits the nearer and darker foreground peak.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening Shadows, Alpine Lake

September 26, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening shadows fall across an island-studded alpine lake and surrounding cliffs as the sun drops behind a nearby ridge

This lake is one of many located close to the spot where four of us spent six mid-September nights camping near 11,000′ of elevation near the spine of the Sierra in Kings Canyon National Park. We remained in one base camp location, and each day we explored more of the surrounding terrain of lakes, granite, meadows, vast bowls, ridges, and surrounding peaks. While the backpacker’s imperative is often to keep moving in order to see a lot of country, ours was to stay in one area and spend time getting to know it better. Our subjects were literally outside the doors of our tents, and we were up before dawn every morning and we didn’t return from shooting until dark.

I photographed this lake and its surroundings on multiple occasions, ranging from early morning on sunny days to dusk on a day when I shot in light rain. The appearance and mood of such a place is transformed significantly according to the light at various times of day and in response to the weather. One constant in this particular location was that large areas were often in shadow in the very early and very late hours, as steep slopes and high ridges stood between the landscape and the sun in many places. The light in this photograph is illustrative. Perhaps only minutes earlier, the final direct sun of the day had come across a high ridge to the right of my camera position and washed warm light across the water, the rocky islands and shore line, and the broken granite cliffs. But here, all that remains of the light is an intense beam of light angling down from right to left beyond the main cliff and casting only a bit of direct light on its edge. Below, light in the bowl holding the lake has turned cold and blue – a change that literally took only moments. While I think we tend to first think of that earlier, warmer light, this cold shaded light is an intrinsic element of these high places and the feeling of that light is what I wanted to capture in this photograph.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fractured Granite, Reflections

September 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 8 Comments

A few days ago I returned from a 9-day trip into the back-country of Kings Canyon National Park. I was one of a group of four photographers who traveled to a remote location at about 11,000′, where we remained for more than five days, photographing the surrounding terrain morning and evening. We followed the common routine of such work – up before dawn and off to investigate and photograph some valley or lake, back by mid or late morning for breakfast, generally hanging out and doing camp chores during the midday period when the light is often less exciting, then back out in the late afternoon for a few more hours of exploration and photography before returning to camp for a post-sunset dinner. Unlike a typical backpack trip, where one rarely stays in the same place for long, we remained in the same camp for six nights, allowing us to really get to know the surrounding area very well.

With so much time, we were frequently able to return to places that we had already visited – perhaps coming back in the evening after a morning visit, returning to try again to catch a subject that didn’t have the right light the first time, or shooting the subject in various conditions ranging from clear skies to rain. This bit of interesting rock was next to a lake that I walked to on a number of occasions, and on this morning I arrived when the lake was still in shadow but illuminated by light reflected from nearby rock faces. Because it was so early the air was very still, allowing me to photograph this very sharp reflection of the fractured granite cliff where it entered the water. A bit of vegetation just above the waterline has taken on early fall colors.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: rugged

Autumn Flurries, Morning

Evening Shadows, Alpine Lake

Fractured Granite, Reflections

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