Tag Archives: silhouette

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Dunes, Blowing Sand

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Dunes with blowing sand in afternoon light, Death Valley National Park

Dunes, Blowing Sand. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dunes with blowing sand in afternoon light, Death Valley National Park

For this photograph I returned to my file on as-yet-unfinished images from this year’s end-of-March visit to Death Valley. We were there for the better part of a week, visiting various areas of the park ranging from some quite popular spots (such as the dunes in this scene) to some that were a bit more off the beaten track and which required some effort to get to. The latter included some abandoned backcountry habitations and some dead-end roads into various canyons.

This scene is a fairly accessible one, though we came at it from a slightly different direction. We also arrived here in conditions that were a bit less than ideal, at least for walking into sand dunes, namely a lot of strong wind and blowing sand. I made the photograph when the sun was a bit lower in the sky, and its back-lit the dust-filled atmosphere and the little ribbons of blowing sand along the top ridges of the dunes.

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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, Photographs: Yosemite

Oak Trees, Spring Snow

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Oak Trees, Spring Snow
Snow storm clouds obscure cliffs behind black oak trees

Oak Trees, Spring Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Snow storm clouds obscure cliffs behind black oak trees

I’ll continue by string of winter(-ish) photographs with another in what is getting close to the end of the new work I produced during my Yosemite Renaissance artist-in-residency this past winter and early spring. I always photograph in the park during these seasons, but this year’s residency provided me with far more opportunities — ranging from utterly freezing winter snow storm days to the sunny and warm early days of spring.

I made this photograph on a spring day, believe it or not — one of those early spring days during the transition from the cold season toward the coming warm season when winter reasserts itself. A small snow storm was passing though Yosemite Valley, and it dropped a thin layer of snow down to this low elevation. Although this snow did not last long, while it fell the Valley was briefly transformed back into a winter landscape. When I think of winter in the Sierra, conifer trees tend to come to mind, so this scene with oak trees under a thin layer of snow was special, with dark trunks and branches set against the snow and cloud-filled sky and a muted view of Valley cliffs.

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, Photographs: Yosemite

Black Oaks, Spring Snow

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Black Oaks, Spring Snow
Spring snow falls on a black oak grove, Yosemite Valley

Black Oaks, Spring Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring snow falls on a black oak grove, Yosemite Valley

It is hard to pick a favorite season in Yosemite Valley. Fall brings much cooler temperatures, diminishing crowds, and autumn colors. Winter brings snow and clouds drifting among peaks and across meadows. In spring the waterfalls flow strongly again as rivers rise, and the Valley’s vegetation comes back to life. Perhaps the ideal time is the transition between winter and spring, when on the ideal day you can experience a bit of both seasons. (Identifying the least favorite is easy. That would be summer, on account of the sometimes extreme heat and the frequent crowds of tourists. I generally stay away between June and mid-September.)

This was one of those spring days that briefly felt more like winter. A quick snow storm came through, dropping temperatures and leaving a few inches of snow on trees and on the ground. (It was almost all gone before noon the next day, when spring returned.) These black oak trees, with their graceful trunks and branches, are always lovely, but when snow falls they are special. There was just enough snow to coat the upper branches of these trees, and snow and mist swirled beyond among the cliffs surrounding the Valley.

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, Photographs: Yosemite

Dead Trees, Snow

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Dead Trees, Snow
Burned forest trees silhouetted against snow storm clouds swirling around a granite face

Dead Trees, Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dead forest trees silhouetted against snow storm clouds swirling around a granite face

I have written before about my long-term process of trying to find ways to photograph the beauty of dead or burned forests, a subject that I was brought up to regard as a tragedy. For decades, Smokey the Bear told me that forest fires were a wholly bad thing, to be avoided at all costs. Eventually we came to understand and (mostly) accept that fire is a normal and even necessary part of the life-cycle of healthy forests, and in places like Yosemite fires are often “managed” rather than suppressed. Currently in the Sierra Nevada the issue is compounded by the sight of millions of trees that fell victim to bark beetles during the recent drought, and whole forests have died in some places. A few dead trees are a normal part of the landscape, but this is unprecedented in the lives of any of us.

This photograph was made on a snowy day in Yosemite Valley, probably the last such day of the current season as winter turns to spring. Beyond the stark trees, a combination of clouds and blowing snow mostly obscured the Valley’s cliff faces. This photograph illustrates something else I figured out about photographing tall trees some years ago. I used to feel that the way to show the vertical scale of tall trees was to move back and show the whole tree, usually in a vertically framed image. I specifically recall the day when I figured out that there is another way. I was photographing in the coast redwood forest north of San Francisco, where I was unable to move back to get the tree-encompassing distance. I realized that I could do the exact opposite of what I had been doing — use a panoramic framing that does not show the whole tree, but instead implies by absence that subject is too tall to fit in the camera’s frame.

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 | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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