Tag Archives: seasonal

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.

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

Cascade, Boulders

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Cascade, Boulders
Cascade, Boulders

Cascade, Boulders. Yosemite National Park, California. May 4, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A seasonal waterfall cascades past granite boulders, Yosemite National Park

I guess I’ll go ahead and make this a “waterfall weekend” by posting a second photograph of the same little cascading creek that was featured in yesterday’s photograph. This small beauty is a seasonal cascade that is right next to the roadway—I’m definitely not taking any “wilderness photography” credit for this one. (Though the character if the creek is very similar to and remiss me of many such rocky creeks found in less accessible locations.) As is the case with some many such small creeks, this one comes and goes quickly in most years. It does not necessarily dry up completely, but it often diminishes to an unimpressive trickle later on.

Although the accessible location makes photographing this fall easy, there are still a few challenges. Perhaps the most mundane is that, given that one is photographing from the shoulder of a highway, you have to watch out for passing vehicles! From a photographic perspective there are a few more interesting challenges. One is that of composition. This section of the waterfall is some distance above the camera position, and there are only a few clean shots of it. I wanted some of the curving and flowing shapes at the top along with the faster moving, and hence narrower, section at the bottom, and I wanted to include the blocky, wet, and reflective rocks. The light is a bit tricky here, too. Fortunately, the cascade remains in shadow well after sunrise, but the best light seems to come at just about the moment when the sun starts to rise above the ridge behind the fall. Consequently, though it isn’t visible in this tightly cropped composition, I was shooting almost straight into the sun!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Reeds and Reflected Sky

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Reeds and Reflected Sky
Reeds and Reflected Sky

Reeds and Reflected Sky. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 21, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Reeds and blue sky reflected in the surface of a San Joaquin Valley pond

This image could serve an example of how puzzlement, patience, and good luck can lead to a photograph. I have looked at precisely this clump of reeds perhaps a half-dozen times, thought about how I might photograph them, but could not make it work. They grow in a marshy pond in a San Joaquin Valley wildlife refuge, near a spot where I almost always stop at least once each time I visit. The usual reason for stopping at this precise spot has little or nothing to do with these plants, and more to do with the wildlife that might be around or with the interesting light that often appears here at certain times of the day.

When I have stopped here to photograph those other things, or perhaps just to look around, I have noticed the reeds and wanted to photograph them, but remained puzzled about how to make the photograph work. It may seem odd that such a simple subject would be challenging, but it is hard to find a sight line to one clump that isn’t interrupted by others, the water is often a bit stirred up by wind and birds, and getting the right reflections and light on the water is a challenge. But each time I think about it, and I had even tried a few previous photographs. But this time I had some luck on my side. First, it was a very calm and still morning, so the surface of the water was almost glass smooth, with just very subtle ripples. Second, the morning fog and haze distinctly muted what could otherwise be an overpowering blue in the reflection from the sky. (I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but I didn’t even go back to my vehicle to get a tripod to make this shot, instead just shooting it handheld.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Spring Cascade, Tioga Pass Road

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Spring Cascade, Tioga Pass Road
Spring Cascade, Tioga Pass Road

Spring Cascade, Tioga Pass Road. Yosemite National Park, California. June 18, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A seasonal stream cascades over a granite ledge along Tioga Pass Road, Yosemite National Park.

This small cascade is one of hundreds seen along Tioga Pass Road on June 18 this year, the day the park service opened the road for the season. The opening date was later than usual due to the heavy snowpack, and there was water everywhere as the snow melt accelerated in the late spring weather. It was almost embarrassingly easy to find and photograph these subjects – this one was right next to the roadway.

This is part of a larger cascade, out of view to the right, that flows off the top of a granite area and drops quickly across granite cliffs. Here the water strikes a slanting ledge and bits of spray explode almost like Fourth of July fireworks. Obviously, the somewhat unusually long shutter speed was selected with this effect in mind. The reddish plants to the left, just beginning to come back to life after the long winter, hint at the early date in the season.

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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.