Tag Archives: settle

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Wildfire Smoke, Forest, Morning

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Wildfire Smoke, Forest, Morning
Morning smoke from the Empire fire settings among forest trees in morning light

Wildfire Smoke, Forest, Morning. Yosemite National Park, California. October 22, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning smoke from the Empire fire settings among forest trees in morning light

In today’s post I’m likely to repeat some things that I have shared before, but I think they might provide some context for this photograph of a wildfire that was still burning through forest in the Yosemite National Park Sierra Nevada high country. I have gone through several phases regarding wildfires as a subject. Many years ago, having had my first backcountry experiences in less enlightened part of the Smokey The Bear era, I simply regarded all wildfires as unmitigated disasters. Later I came to understand the obvious: wildfires have always been a part of the natural ecology of forests, and they are necessary for forest health. But I still didn’t like them. After that I began to make an effort to see wildfires and their aftermath as possible subjects for photographs, and even as potential subjects for photographs of something beautiful. For a long time I failed at that, even though I tried. More recently, perhaps because I have been lucky to be in the right places at the right time, I think I have finally begun to understand how to photograph the subject and make it work. (A longer post on that broad subject may be coming before long!)

There have been quite a few wildfires in California this year. (And while I recognize their importance in the natural order of things, I am concerned that the number and extent of the fires is far enough out of the normal range to have some long-term negative effects.) I have had plenty of opportunities to photograph their effects. On this late October morning I was in Yosemite and heading out towards Glacier Point, thinking it might be my final opportunity to photograph there before winter snows close the road for the season. I was stopped in my tracks as I came around a large bend in the road and to a high, open overlook with views toward the Sierra crest. The smoke from the slow-burning late stages of this fire had settled into hollows and among the trees in the still air overnight, and it was just beginning to drift and rise in the early morning light, both softening the scene and emphasizing the varied contours of ridges and forest.

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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Morning Wildfire Smoke

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Morning Wildfire Smoke
Early morning wildfire smoke settles into a Sierra Nevada valley

Morning Wildfire Smoke. Yosemite National Park, California. October 22, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning wildfire smoke settles into a Sierra Nevada valley

I arrived at this point in the early morning while the sun was still very low in the sky and before the day’s breezes had begun to pick up. A wildfire had burned across this section of the Yosemite high country starting quite a few weeks ago, and by now it had transformed from a raging inferno that was rapidly chewing up the landscape into a slow-burning fire that continued to do the beneficial work of eliminating years of build-up of undergrowth. The latter, while smoky and disruptive, is a natural part of the normal forest ecology.

From this overlook I could take in the few back toward the valley where the fire was burning. At this early hour the smoke was mostly settled in from the previous night, layered in among the trees at the bottom of valleys. Like a river only much slower and less tangible, the smoke drifted down the bottom of the valley and followed the natural contours of the land. As I photographed and the sun rose higher, the air began to move a bit more. The smoke started to diffuse and rise, and before long it had come up to my position and it was time to go.

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 | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Winter Fog and Oak Covered Hills

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Winter Fog and Oak Covered Hills
Winter Fog and Oak Covered Hills

Winter Fog and Oak Covered Hills. Calero Hills, California. January 9, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter morning fog settles over the oak covered Calero Hills landscape of central California.

On this early-January winter morning I headed to my “photographic backyard” in the Calero Hills area, knowing that I’d get to shoot my favorite hills, oak trees, and grasslands in fog, clearing fog, and perhaps even sunlight. Things didn’t pan out exactly as I expected, but it was a good morning of photography anyway.

After starting out by photographing a tree in the “lowlands” of the park, I could tell that the tule fog was starting to clear a bit along the ridges – the brighter light from above was one hint, and the occasional faint sight of blue sky and clouds through the low fog was another. So I decided to finish up my work on that tree and follow a trail that ascends to one of the many minor ridges running through the park.

Arriving at a familiar point on the ridge along a valley that drops away to the south, the fog began to clear from my location. I soon discovered that it wasn’t going to be a day for sunlit photographs – a weak weather system was approaching and high clouds muted the sunlight. In addition the fog didn’t exactly clear – it was more a case of the fog sort of washing back and forth. One moment my position and nearby ridges would clear and I’d see the overcast sky above (as in this photograph), but a few minutes later another wave of fog would expand out of the valleys and I’d be socked in again. So I set up and waited and watched and ended up with several photographs that I like.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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