Tag Archives: sierra

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Green Hills, Rose Light

April 28, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Subtle colors illuminate a ridge top and sunset clouds in the Sierra Nevada foothills, California.

This is yet another virtual “happy accident” photograph. I posted a different version of it earlier, but it may have been long enough that I can tell the story again. I had been in Yosemite Valley and surrounding areas for the day, and late in the afternoon I left The Valley to head into Merced Canyon where the redbud and California Golden Poppies were blooming. The plan was to get into the canyon while there was still sun in the sky but at a time when lengthening shadows would bring some soft light to various deeper/steeper sections of the canyon. So I shot there until a bit less than an hour before sunset and then decided to head on home, starting the long drive back to the San Francisco Bay Area.

I headed down the canyon, still unable to completely stop looking at the newly green grasses, the plants that were starting to leaf out, and the profusion of purple redbud blossoms and bright orange California Poppies spreading up some of the steep hillsides. But as beautiful as much of this was, I wasn’t seeing photographs in it, so I continued on. Soon I reached Briceburg, where the road leaves the Merced and climbs steeply as it heads toward Mariposa. Climbing this steep section I continued to glance back over my shoulder at the green, chaparral-coverd ridges behind me and the clouds above them that were beginning to pick up a bit of sunset color. As I neared the top of the climb I almost kept going – doing the internal debate between it might make an interesting photograph and I’m hungry and I want to start home! – I passed a photographer set up beside the road, and I quickly recognized him as a friend. Now I had no choice but to stop, so I did a u-turn at the first turnout and headed back down the hill to where he and his wife were. I grabbed my gear, said “hi” as I set up, and figured that I might as well make a few final exposures of the delicately colored sky and the subtle tones that the last light imparted to the upper ridges.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Redbud Flowers, Merced Canyon

April 23, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Spring blooms completely cover the branches of a redbud tree, Merced Canyon, California.

One of the most striking signs of spring in some portions of California is the intensely colorful blooming of the redbud plants. (Variously described as “trees” or “bushes.”) At the right time in April, the blooms are found in abundance along the bottom of the Merced River Canyon below Yosemite National Park. This year I had time for a quick one-day visit to the area – photographing the redbud plants was one of my two major goals that day, and I certainly had plenty of opportunities.

A few weeks from now and throughout the rest of the year, the redbud is not an especially remarkable plant among the other plants that grow in these areas. However, when covered almost completely by intense purple flowers, the plant stands out against the mostly green and brown background of other plants. This tree seemed to have fully blossomed, and the earliest spring leaves were just beginning to appear among the flowers. I shot this with a long lens to provide some background blur, and I worked in a shaded are of the canyon before the direct sun arrived, since I prefer to photograph this plant in softer light.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Impossible Tree Fall, Spring

April 7, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Rushing water of a seasonal creek splashes and leaps over rocks and past a tree, Yosemite National Park.

The name of this little seasonal waterfall – found along highway 120 – is not, as far as I can tell, official. However, it seems to be fairly well-known among Yosemite folks. It is also a great name – not only because of the fun conduction of words, but also because it so aptly describes the most notable feature of the fall, the “impossible tree.” In this odd little section of rocky hillside above a road, a creek flows for a short time in the spring as the winter snow melts out. In this middle of this rocky jumble grows a single tree, with its roots seemingly attached to nothing more than rocks. So it is a doubly impossible tree, growing in the middle of a waterfall and somehow finding sustenance from granite.

This photograph was made outside of the more typical “golden hour” time, though it wasn’t all that late in the morning. My timing was just right – though luck probably had as much to do with this as did planning. As we passed by, the sun was rising high enough to peek over the top of the ridge above the fall and its light was just starting to strike the leaping water from behind and above.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Spring Torrent, Yosemite

April 5, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A cascading creek zigzags among boulders as it descends a steep mountainside, Yosemite National Park.

This is a scene I have photographed many times, as I continue to work on “seeing” and understanding its elements. (And as I work on trying not to duplicate other beautiful “takes” on this location that have been produced by other photographers whose work I respect a great deal!) As a matter of fact, the “many times” would have to include the many times I photographed it on this particular visit, as photographing moving water tends to be a bit of a game of percentages. While you can start to gauge some of the patterns of the water if you watch long and intently enough, in the end you have to take what you get to some extent. Fortunately, with digital cameras it is possible to improve the odds a bit since one can make a lot of exposures, with the only real cost being the great amount of time required to go through them all.

This photograph was made at just about the peak of the spring runoff season, and during a year that had featured well above average precipitation during the previous winter. In mid-June (about the time that Tioga Pass finally opened) there was water flowing everywhere – obviously in the many well-known creeks and rivers and waterfalls, but also in places where you might otherwise not expect to see flowing water. Impromptu seasonal streams were everywhere, flowing across granite and through forests and often spilling right across the roadways. The object in this photograph was to try to shoot straight into the maelstrom of the current as it dropped down a steep hillside, twisting and turning as it passed through a narrow, rocky area.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sierra

Redbud Flowers, Merced Canyon

Impossible Tree Fall, Spring

Spring Torrent, Yosemite

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.