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Cirque In Shadow

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Cirque In Shadow
A high country cirque in shadows, surrounded by a landscape of talus, cliffs and late-season patches of snow.

Cirque In Shadow. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A high country cirque in shadows, surrounded by a landscape of talus, cliffs and late-season patches of snow.

Over the past decade-plus I have traveled into the Sierra backcountry almost annually with a group of fellow photographers each summer. We’ve photographed from Yosemite to Sequoia-Kings Canyon and some non-park areas along the eastern edge of the range. Our practice has been to take a day or two to get to a suitable spot where we set up a basecamp and then photograph the heck out of the surrounding area. One plus of this approach, as contrasted with trying to cover more ground by moving daily, is that we get to become more intimately familiar with the rhythms of the place.

I made this photograph a few years ago on one of these trips. We camped in thin forest at a nice high-country lake mostly surrounded by rocky terrain. Over the course of the week we explored the surroundings, gradually uncovering what the area had to offer. This lake is one of several along the course of a small stream coming down from much higher country, and it lies in an east-facing cirque more or less at timberline. The late-season snow field in the talus field attracted me from the first time I saw it, and it was only after several visits that I decided to try photographing it in the deep shade from the surrounding peaks and ridges.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Rocky Shoreline, Reflections

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Rocky Shoreline, Reflections
Talus boulders and their reflection at the edge of a Sierra Nevada lake.

Rocky Shoreline, Reflections. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Talus boulders and their reflection at the edge of a Sierra Nevada lake.

Three summers ago a group of us (yes, THAT group) spent a week camped at a little backcountry lake on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. The lake is a pretty one, with forest on one side, rocks on the other, and a few areas of meadow and granite slabs here and there. All in all, a fairly typical sort of scene in the range. Beyond the lake itself, the valley that holds in also contains many other small lakes and is surrounded by ridges and peaks, all of which gave us plenty to photograph.

This photograph comes from the rocky side of this lake. A common pattern with high country lakes is for there to be some flat area(s) along one side and perhaps at the inlet and outlet streams, and for one side to be close to some sort of slope. Anyone who tries to circumnavigate such lakes is familiar with the difficulties of finding a way along that rocky side. The rocky slope next to this lake was exceptionally rough, with large boulders extending right down to the shoreline. What it lacked in “walkability” it made up for in reflections. A much higher ridge above the rocks left this area in shadow late in the morning, producing a nice blue tonality to the light.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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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, Photographs: Yosemite

Morning Shoreline

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Morning Shoreline
Early morning light approaches the rocky shoreline of a backcountry Yosemite lake.

Morning Shoreline. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning light approaches the rocky shoreline of a backcountry Yosemite lake.

With this photograph we are back in the Yosemite National Park backcountry at a lake that I’ve visited many times, including this occasion more than a decade ago when I joined a group of friends and photographers here fo a few beautiful early fall days. This late-september and early October period is my favorite in these mountains. Most of the crowds have left, especially in the backcountry, the mosquitos are gone, and most days are beautiful and filled with warm autumn light. (Of course… occasionally it does snow…)

This photograph is part of a series of images I have shared recently, all made on a morning spent walking around the perimeter of this lake. The earlier photographs were made before the direct sunlight arrived on the scene, but in this one the first early morning light has arrived on granite slabs just above the shoreline.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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, Photography and Music

Shoreline, Sunset

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Shoreline, Sunset
The shoreline of an alpine lake at sunset, Yosemite Naitonal Park.

Shoreline, Sunset. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The shoreline of an alpine lake at sunset, Yosemite Naitonal Park.

We were camped at a backcountry lake in northern Yosemite. Our group of photographers were there for a long enough period of time to photograph the lake itself and to explore the surrounding terrain — other lakes, talus fields, high ridges, and more. On this evening we all had the same idea — to follow the inlet stream of “our” lake up a slope toward the next higher lake in the drainage.

I made this photograph near the upper lake’s outlet, where the terrain flattened out and wetter, almost swampy areas surrounded the water. This spot, being higher than surrounding country, was fully open to the west and the low angle sun sloped across these small trees, standing against a background of a late-season snow field and the base of a rocky slope.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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