Tag Archives: shoreline

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

Islands, Wilderness Lake

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Islands, Wilderness Lake
Rocky islands with trees at a small wilderness lake in the Yosemite backcountry.

Islands, Wilderness Lake. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rocky islands with trees at a small wilderness lake in the Yosemite backcountry.

This photograph is almost a companion to the photograph I shared yesterday — same lake, same morning, similar subject, different trees, and islands instead of a peninsula this time. Once again, though, the trees on the islands and ascending the granite slopes beyond are illuminated by beautiful morning Sierra Nevada back light. To those familiar with the Sierra, this scene likely speaks of many things, but perhaps two in particular. First, is the nature of the forest — different from in many other locations, largely due to its generally more open character. (Some have proposed that the “Range of Light” name may be partially on account of this aspect of the Sierra experience.) Second, and perhaps a bit less obvious at first glance, is the evidence of glaciation. This lake was almost certainly scooped out by those forces, and the dome-like slopes beyond also suggest glacial sculpting.

As I have mentioned as recently as my previous post, I love photographing Sierra subjects — especially trees — in backlight, especially if a there is a bit of haze to produce a sense of distance between foreground and back ground and a bit of “glow” in the atmosphere. This kind of light can extend the hours for photography since it often works even when the early and late golden hour light is not present.

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, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest and Shoreline Boulders

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Forest and Shoreline Boulders
Trees growing on rocky terrain along the edge of a Yosemite wilderness lake.

Forest and Shoreline Boulders. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees growing on rocky terrain along the edge of a Yosemite wilderness lake.

While this scene is at a specific little lake in the Yosemite National Park wilderness, it might as well be just about anywhere in the Sierra, its features are so typical of the Range of Light, at least in this high elevation forest zone. Many of the lakes reside in glacially carved hollows, and as a result there are often rocky areas surrounding them. The most recent glaciers came recently enough that the soil is rather thin in many places, but everywhere meadows and forest live next to these lakes.

Because it appears that I am photographing across the lake toward this shoreline you might imagine a rather small lake. But there was a small peninsula that allowed me to get out into the lake and photograph the shoreline from a rather close distance. (There was a lot larger expanse of water behind me than in front of me!) In addition to the rocks and the reflections, this scene includes one of my favorites — backlit trees, here given a bit of separation from the background mountain by means of some late summer haze.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Wilderness Lake, Late Season Light

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Wilderness Lake, Late Season Light
Hazy, late-season light at a Yosemite backcountry lake showing signs of autumn color.

Wilderness Lake, Late Season Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hazy, late-season light at a Yosemite backcountry lake showing signs of autumn color.

On this first day of autumn I am queuing up this photograph to appear on my website a day later. (Some of you may see it on social media on the equinox.) The photograph provokes the question: When does fall actually start, anyway? It might seem like the objective answer would be obvious, but perhaps not as much as we would think. One definition — the most common one — says that fall, or autumn, beings on the date of the autumnal equinox when the sun is again directly overhead at the equator. However, I’m aware of at least two other ways of looking at this. One refers to so-called “meteorological fall,” which I understand to be the months of September, October, and November. (I’ve always felt that these were the months of autumn.) Another method, which also makes a lot of sense, starts and ends the seasons on so-called “cross quarter days,” the days midway between equinox and solstice.

This photograph falls into this gap and illustrates the conundrum. I made the photograph a few years ago when a group of use spent a few days photographing this backcountry Yosemite Lake and its surroundings… near the start of September. The astronomers will tell you it was still summer, but the meteorologists and backcountry travels will note that the scene had a distinctly autumnal quality, especially from the lovely red bilberry plants in the foreground. Whatever system you follow, there was no question that this was a day more full of the sensations of autumn than of summer.

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

Sierra Shoreline, Morning

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Sierra Shoreline, Morning
Reflections and soft morning light on on trees and boulders along the shoreline of a Yosemite wilderness lake.

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

Reflections and soft morning light on on trees and boulders along the shoreline of a Yosemite wilderness lake.

This photograph brings back a bunch of wonderful and somewhat wistful memories. I made it on a weeklong wilderness trip with a group of photographers with whom I’ve been heading into the Sierra backcountry almost every summer for more than a decade. (The “wistful” part of the memories is largely because the pandemic has prevented us from getting together again this summer.) We typically spend that time exploring some beautiful Sierra location, base-camped long enough to really get to know the place. Every morning we emerge from tents in darkness and head out to photograph for hours. We return to camp in the middle of the morning with stories to tell and chores to take care of. Late in the afternoon we head out into the field again, photographing until the light fades and we return to camp in darkness. The we do the same thing the next day.

This trip took us to a beautiful little forested lake in the Yosemite backcountry, a place I had not visited previously even though I had been in the general area quite a few times. The lake is up high, with expansive views from nearby ridges, and surrounded by forest. On most mornings I did a slow circuit around the lake as the light arrived. This lovely section of shoreline was more or less on the opposite side from our camp, and after photographing it more than once I figured out the light well enough that I was able to photograph it in the soft morning light just before the sun arrived, when the water was still smooth.

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.