Tag Archives: shoreline

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lakeshore, Evening

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Lakeshore, Evening
A few sunset clouds reflected in the quiet surface of a backcountry Sierra Nevada lake.

Lakeshore, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A few sunset clouds reflected in the quiet surface of a backcountry Sierra Nevada lake.

Periodically I find myself going back to my archives and looking through older photographs, typically images that I made years ago and sort of left behind as I went on to work on newer things. These reviews often have a couple of wonderful consequences. Often I rediscover a photograph that I had originally neglected, perhaps because it worked in a different way than what I originally imagined or possibly because I wasn’t patient enough at the time. The distance provided by a few years of time often allows me to see the image in ways I missed at first. In addition, these older photograph bring back wonderful memories — of the subjects, for sure, but also of the trips themselves and the people I traveled with.

I made this photograph on a long southern Sierra backcountry trip with a group of long-time backcountry buddies — folks I have backpacked with many times over the years. On this trip we were down to our core group of four, and we traveled into one of the highest, alpine regions of the range, into the upper Kern River drainage of Sequoia National Park. Those who know this region won’t be surprised to hear that we had to cross several very high passes, that we were out for over a week, and that we got into places where we saw very few other visitors. I made the photograph on a lovely, lazy evening, near a lake we ended up at almost by accident — a place that turned out to be utterly scenic, extremely quiet, and almost devoid of visible signs of humans.

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

Talus, Reflection

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Talus, Reflection
A talus field of large boulders meets the shoreline of an alpine lake

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

A talus field of large boulders meets the shoreline of an alpine lake

And, yes, another “going with the blue” photograph of talus boulders. It is, I admit, turning into a bit of a theme among my photographs from the September backcountry Eastern Sierra photography week. If you follow my posts you probably already know the following, but for anyone who hasn’t read the previous text… we were camped at a lake in a deep north-south oriented valley with very high peaks on either side. Immediately to the east of our camp, across a nearby lake, was a huge talus slope, full of randomly arranged boulders from top to bottom.

Because of the north-south trend of the canyon, early morning and evening direct light was blocked, and we had long periods of “blue hour” shaded light to work with every day. Yes, the light actually is very blue. It comes from having only the blue sky — a sort of giant natural light panel — as the light sources. The question in post is always how blue to let the scene be, since the actual blue can be shocking to viewers. (Our complex sensory system sees this as less blue — the mental process subconsciously says, essentially, “Yes, this is blue, but I know the actual color of rocks, so I’ll pretend I don’t see the blue!”) The photographer gets to make the subjective call on how blue things should be. At times I’ve gone so far as to completely neutrally the blue tones, and if I did so here you would probably feel that it looked natural. On the other hand, it is interesting to me to “go with the blue” and think about the real color of light and the effect that it has on our perceptions. (To be honest, I have actually reduced the amount of blue in the scene!

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

End-Of-Summer Light

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End-Of-Summer Light
Late season Sierra Nevada light in the John Muir Wilderness

End-Of-Summer Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late season Sierra Nevada light in the John Muir Wilderness

As you may have figured out if you follow my work, I often photograph very early and very late in the day, especially when I have access to soft light. On trips like the one where I made this series of photographs the day follows an unusual schedule. We are typically up very early (before dawn) for a few hours of photography, we return to camp to hang out and take care of various camp duties in the middle of the day, and in late afternoon we once again head out into the field, frequently not arriving back in camp until after dark.

But sometimes the light is beautiful outside of those limited hours. There could be special weather conditions — fog, storm clouds, haze — or a landscape that is amenable to midday photography. In the Sierra there is a period from middle September until the first real snows come that can produce some of the most beautiful daytime light I know. I think of it as golden light, and it comes on clear, cool days when the fall colors are arriving. This was one of those days, with the lakeside grasses turning yellow and the water very still, when I made this photograph near the outlet of a small, subalpine lake.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Shoreline Meadow And Forest

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Shoreline Meadow And Forest
September light on forest and meadow lining the shore of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

Shoreline Meadow And Forest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

September light on forest and meadow lining the shore of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

Having set up a base camp nearby and remained there for slightly more than a week, I got to know this lake and its surroundings very well during my September 2018 visit. Because of the high ridges to the north and south, the length of time when the area was in the direct sun was shorter than is typical in such places at this time of year — we have a couple of hours at the start and end of the day when the lake fell into the shadow of these great ridges. But when that sun did come out the light was often glorious.

At this elevation, close to 11,000′, the eastern Sierra trees become quite short and their grow in an open manner that allows a lot of light to penetrate. (Hence, the “range of light!”) There was forest around this lake, but much of it was composed of these smaller, high elevation trees. Along the shoreline where I made this photograph, a meadow like area descended from the left to a narrow band of grasses lining the lake’s shore. Trees grew on the rocky rise along this side of the lake, perhaps an old moraine. When I made the photograph the light was coming through from the right at a low angle, and there was a bit of haze between my position and the high ridge in the 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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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