Tag Archives: scenic

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

Dusk, Earth-Shadow, Oaks and Grass

August 29, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The earth’s dusk earth shadow rises behind the folds of an oak and grass-covered Sierra Nevada foothill ridge on a late-summer evening

We had been in Mariposa, along the road heading towards Yosemite Valley, to meet up with friends and do various other fun things. As is often the case, at one point the conversation turned toward the photographic possibilities for later in the day. As the horrendous “Rim” fire was burning a few ridges over along the boundaries of the park, one thought was to find a high viewpoint and try to photograph the huge smoke clouds and the light from the flames during the dusk hours. A suggestion was offered by a person who knows the area concerning a gravel back-road to the top of an area ridge from which a good view might be obtained, so we decided to give that a try. It was a beautiful early evening – no smoke here – as we drove through oak and grass-covered hills below Mariposa to pick up this route and then ascended toward the ridge to turn off on the gravel road. From the junction we could see columns of smoke from burning forest to our north, but there was also a pretty clear “No Trespassing” sign posted along the road… so we decided that we should double-check our directions before risking a citation, and we headed back down the mountain.

The alternative plan had been to simply photograph the beautiful foothills themselves as the day came to an end. In this area there are many beautiful valleys of rolling hills covered with dry grassland and oak forests that sometimes thin to individual trees. We headed along a little back road and soon arrived at our main route shortly before the last sunlight was about to fade. Driving as we looked, we finally stopped at a turnout right after the sun had dropped below the horizon, where we could see the boundary between the last pink color in the sky and the rising blue line of the earth’s shadow. I used a long lens to make a small number of exposures shooting across the hillside patterns towards an oak-topped ridge with the dusk sky beyond.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Ridges, Evening Light

August 24, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Evening light shines through broken clouds to illuminate forest-covered ridges and high peaks beyond, Olympic National Park

I have not had a lot of luck trying to photograph the Hurricane Ridge area in the past. You’ve probably seen the beautiful and iconic photographs by other photographers – lavish displays of wildflowers, striking alpine ridges holding snow fields and glaciers, spectacular cloud-filled skies. However, on the few occasions when I have tried to shoot there I have contended with wind, fog that held visibility down to mere yards, and poor seasonal timing. Since we were in the Seattle area (for something non-photographic) with a free day, I figured I might try one more time. Initially I had thought of the run up to Artist Point in North Cascades, but the weather forecast there was not at all promising, with rain expected. Initially I thought that there might be similar weather out on the Peninsula, but as we started out I got a call from my brother, who is a Seattle area photographer much more familiar with the patterns of the area, saying “go to the Olympic Peninsula. I’m looking at a web cam and it seems clear!”

In fact, by the time our ferry crossed to the west side of Puget Sound, it was looking quite clear. After some midday, lowland shooting, we figured that we would try Hurricane Ridge at the end of the day. With this in mind, it was a bit after 5:00 when we arrived there. The first look around was not too encouraging – the wildflowers were mostly spent and it was cloudy, though sun was breaking through the clouds from time to time. I decided to give it a try since I know that conditions can change quickly and because it was likely too late to get to any other interesting points in the remaining daylight. Setting up and watching the scene, I noticed that while it was cloudy and even a bit rainy, breaks in the clouds to the west were sending occasional beams of light chasing across the landscape, especially the large forest-covered ridge in the foreground of this photograph.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Olympic Peninsula Forest

August 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Sunlight filters through dense forest in Olympic National Park, Washington

During mid-August we traveled to the Seattle area – not primarily for photography but mainly to see the Seattle Opera production of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. The Seattle Ring is sometimes referred to as the “Green Ring,” largely because the production design draws heavily on the natural world of the Pacific Northwest, and especially on the forests. Even when photography is not the primary focus, it is never too far away, so on a day when there were no performances we decided to take the ferry across Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula and see what we could find. We left the Seattle area in heavy fog – the subject of at least one photograph that I’ll post later on – but when we got across the water it was relatively clear. That was a bit surprising since I’ve had seem some pretty cloudy and rainy weather out there in the past, including one memorable trip to Hurricane Ridge when we arrived to find visibility that must have approached, oh, about fifty feet.

One of my brothers, also a photographer, lives in the area and after seeing the positive weather forecast he had suggested that we start at Sol Duc Falls. In actually turned out that the weather was perhaps a bit too nice, as this heavily forested area ended up exhibiting that deadly combination of bright light beams coming through the trees and deep shadows down below, an effect sometimes called “pizza light.” It is about the most difficult thing to photograph, as the dynamic range of the scenes is just far too large for cameras. We hiked to the falls, a short and pleasant hike, and arrived to find that the base of the fall, which is in a deep gorge, was in dark shade while brilliant direct sunlight hit the top of the water. I decided to not try to photograph this – “been there, done that!” – and instead see what I could find in the surrounding forest itself. The light issue remained here, too, but I noticed that a few puffy clouds were blowing around and I figured that I could set up the shot and wait for the nice soft light to arrive in the shadow of one of the clouds. This photograph was made in exactly those conditions – a passing cloud momentarily obscured and softened the light. I think that seeing the beautiful forest-inspired set of Seattle’s Ring had put me in a frame of mind to find and photograph this sort of thing, and I feel like this photograph reflects that connection.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Point Reyes Forest

August 18, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light in a pine forest at Point Reyes National Seashore

As I have visited Point Reyes over a period of years, I have often returned to the same familiar places – the “Point” and the lighthouse area, Limantour Beach, the area where the tule elk congregate, and a few other spots. These are areas of obvious photographic interest, but eventually I want to get to know a place better and to find other subjects. This year I’ve done a bit more of that – hiking some trails around Drakes Bay and Limantour for example, and trying to see the beauty in the pasture lands leading out toward the Point.

On many of the earlier visits I had passed by the turn off to Mount Vision Road without stopping, as I was often intent on getting to some other specific spot. Earlier this year, on a momentary whim, I finally turned left and headed up this route, not having much of any idea of what I would find. At first the road winds steeply up forested slopes, eventually emerging into more open country that affords views out toward Drakes Bay and the Pacific Ocean. (I have some ideas for photographs from up here, but so far the atmospheric conditions haven’t quite cooperated.) On the last visit, I looked a bit more closely at the dense forest growing along this road, and I stopped at one point to photograph this thick area of backlit trees.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: scenic

Dusk, Earth-Shadow, Oaks and Grass

Ridges, Evening Light

Olympic Peninsula Forest

Point Reyes Forest

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