Tag Archives: sierra

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Outcropping, Reflection

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Outcropping, Reflection
A shoreline granite outcropping is reflected in the still surface of a subalpine lake

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

A shoreline granite outcropping is reflected in the still surface of a subalpine lake

I have recently written about and shared a few images from this summer’s 9-day Sierra backcountry photographic adventure. The short story is that a group of us, as we do every year, headed into a backcountry location, set up a base camp, and photographed the surroundings for about a week. The “founders” of the group have been doing this for close to two decades — I gradually became part of the group about a decade ago or so.

One of the many advantages of working this way — setting up a base camp and working outwards from it — is that we can more thoroughly explore and photograph the surrounding area. When backpacking I would mostly pass through locations, rarely staying for more than a night. This gave me an evening and a morning, but with a base camp I can can “work” an area for a full week, often returning to a location to find better conditions. This year our camp was within a short walk of many small, intimate lakes. The daily question was often, “Which lake this time?” I visited the lake in this photograph several times, and each time learned more about it. On this occasion, in the evening, the water was still and reflected the form of the granite outcropping on the other side of the 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.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Talus Field, Shoreline, Reflections

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Talus Field, Shoreline, Reflections
The rocks at the bottom of a large talus field are reflected in still waters.

Talus Field, Shoreline, Reflections. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The rocks at the bottom of a large talus field are reflected in still waters.

The general area where we staying the Sierra backcountry last week featured lots of broken and fallen rock — partly from glacial sources and partly from later erosion — along with tall ridges that gave us hours of soft, shaded light in the morning and the evening. Broken talus slopes are common in the higher reaches of the Sierra, but this area seemed to have an exception amount of the stuff. These talus fields often contain mixtures of rock types, as they are frequently carried down from high peaks.

The talus slope photographed here was just across the lake from where we were camped, so I was able to walk over a few hours before the first sunlight finally made it over the peak to our east. The jumbled and jagged rocks and boulders covered the slope right down to (and beyond) the edge of the lake. In the shadow of the nearby mountain the light was soft and quite blue, the latter because almost all of the illumination was coming from that giant light panel we call the sky. I photographed for quite a while, until a breeze came up and broke the quiet surface of the water.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | 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

Cliff Face, Detail

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Cliff Face, Detail
Abstract forms and colors of a weathered and stained Sierra Nevada cliff

Cliff Face, Detail. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Abstract forms and colors of a weathered and stained Sierra Nevada cliff

As I do almost every summer, I headed into the Sierra Nevada backcountry with a group of friends and photographers over the past week and a half of so. The group has been doing this since about 2001, and I began to work with them nearly a decade ago, eventually moving from showing up as a solo backpacker for a few days to participating fully in the visits. Typically we get packed in to a location with lots of photographic possibilities — a pack string brings in a lot of the gear, while we typically carry in our camera equipment. Once set up we can “work” the surroundings intensively, looking more deeply into the landscape and viewing it in various conditions and light. This provides us with special opportunities to learn the nearby landscape more intimately than if we were just passing through or hiking in and out each day. Equally important, as we live and work together for a week we form a very special little photographic community.

This year we were (again) in the John Muir Wilderness of the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Every place has its own visual personality. In this location high mountains surrounded us and produced several hours of soft, shaded light in the morning and evening, with fill light reflected from surrounding peaks rising into the sunlight…

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Meadow and Lake, Sierra Crest

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Alpine Meadow and Lake, Sierra Crest
The Sierra Nevada crest beyond an alpine meadow and lake

Alpine Meadow and Lake, Sierra Crest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Sierra Nevada crest beyond an alpine meadow and lake

A short walk from our backcountry camp was a higher meadow that we visited almost every day, morning and/or evening. In this unusually wet year the meadow was green and full of wildflower,  with water running strongly in the creek and the areas around the tarn muddy with standing run-off.

The meadow and its flowers were the first attractions of this spot, but the more I visited it and watched the light on the higher peaks, the more they came to fascinate me. The central peak in the photograph stands apart from the main ridge, and for this reason it picks up direct sun from morning until evening. I made this photograph in the evening, when the direct light had already left the meadow (shadowed by a nearby ridge) and remnant thunder-storm clouds filled the sky.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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