Tag Archives: skky

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Morning Sky After Autumn Snow

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Morning Sky After Autumn Snow
A cloud-speckled morning sky above the Eastern Sierra Nevada after light snow from an autumn storm.

Morning Sky After Autumn Snow. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cloud-speckled morning sky above the Eastern Sierra Nevada after light snow from an autumn storm.Morning Sky After Autumn Snow

On this second of two autumn visits to the Eastern Sierra this season we arrived after a few days of early winter-like storms. That’s not unusual during this transition season, a time when it seems that warm and sunny autumn days may alternate with bouts of weather that feels distinctly winter-like. While the weather was in the “warm and sunny” pattern by the time we arrived, we had to alter our plans since several of the high passes were still closed by the early snow.

On our first full day there we headed up towards the base of the eastern escarpment of the range, driving up dirt roads that climbed the huge, gently sloping country below the steeper peaks, an area that is perhaps characterized as high desert. As we gained elevation and worked our way closer to the mountains the views to the north and east began to open up. Far away and beneath morning clouds remaining from the recent passage of a weather front, we could see distant snow-capped peaks, and the very summit of the closer ridge also is topped with a light coat of the early snow.

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

Reflecting Pond, Meadow, Thunderheads

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Reflecting Pond, Meadow, Thunderheads
A meadow pond reflects sky and evening thunderheads.

Reflecting Pond, Meadow, Thunderheads. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A meadow pond reflects sky and evening thunderheads.

Many people probably enjoy the typical Sierra Nevada summer day. Who wouldn’t enjoy perfect blue skies, temperatures perhaps as high as the mid-seventy degree range at 8,000 feet of elevation, gentle breezes? Photographers, that’s who! Actually, we do like the comforts of warmth and sunlight — it is just that the visual environment can be a bit… bland. So, yes, a string of perfect weather days in the Sierra will often get photographers complaining.

The most typical variation in the summer weather pattern comes from monsoon moisture, sweeping up from the south and sometimes parking along the crest of the range and frequently to the east. This weather may (or may not) bring a brief shower (or downpour!), but it always brings interesting skies. This was almost one of the boring, perfect blue sky days but for the beautiful thunderheads on the other side of the Sierra crest. I headed out into this still-green meadow, where the early season flooding had receded, leaving a few pools like this one to reflect the clouds and 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.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills

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First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills
First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills

First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2009. © Copyright 2009 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The first morning light touches hills at Zabriskie Point with ridges of the Panamint Range visible in the distance, Death Valley National Park, California.

When I visit Death Valley – typically, at least once each year – I usually try to seek out some of the less iconic scenes. However, I still do visit the icons, too. And Zabriskie Point at dawn may be the best known and perhaps the most photographed “icon” in the park. When I do go to Zabriskie it is usually for one of two reasons. First, if the light or conditions are truly special, I’ll be there with everyone else when the sun comes up! Second, I have a vague project to try to photograph aspects of Zabriskie that are different from the icon views across Gower Gulch or of Manley Beacon. This photographs sort of fits into that second category.

Those who have photographed here more than once become acquainted with the way that the morning light typically unfolds at Zabriskie. The pre-dawn light begins to softly light the entire scene, and before long the very first dawn light strikes the highest ridges of the Panamint Range on the opposite side of the Valley to the west. This light works its way down the face of that range, gradually illuminating the ridges and valleys of the range and spreading horizontally. It then begins to hit the Valley floor and works its way east and closer to Zabriskie and the rest of the ranges along the east side of the Valley. Although the closest hills are in shadow, one can almost sense the beams of light over head that are reaching into the Valley and sense that the angle of this light is gradually working down toward the closest ridges. Then the first light appears on the higher features around Zabriskie Point, at first soft but quickly increasing in intensity.

This photograph was made at this moment when that firs light arrives. The subject is a darker and rugged ridge that rises between the usual vantage points and the backdrop of the distant Panamint range, which in this photograph is somewhat obscured by the hazy atmosphere on a day when giant dust storms were just beginning to develop further north in the Valley.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.