Tag Archives: slabs

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

Shoreline and Slabs

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Shoreline and Slabs
Glaciated granite slabs rising from shoreline meadows reflected in the still water of a backcountry Yosemite lake.

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

Glaciated granite slabs rising from shoreline meadows reflected in the still water of a backcountry Yosemite lake.

This photograph comes from the early morning hours, before the sun had risen high enough above the surrounding peaks to directly light the immediate landscape. The light is soft and blue-toned, the water is smooth, and the entire scene at this backcountry lake was serene. My recollection is that I had been up at the first hint of light, and that I spent the next few hours exploring the periphery of this lake. .

The photograph comes from very early autumn back in 2009, when I hiked in solo to join a larger group of my friends who were starting a weeklong photography visit to this area. I had teaching responsibilities back in the “real world,” so I was only able to remain for a few days before heading out to civilization. I later found out that I has missed some, uh, “special” weather… that brought the temperatures at this location down to about 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Ah, autumn in the Sierra! Most of the time it is pleasant and comfortable, but every so often an early bit of winter sneaks in to bite you!

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Timberline Lake, Soft Light

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Timberline Lake, Soft Light
Quiet morning light at a Sierra Nevada timberline lake.

Timberline Lake, Soft Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An alpine stream descends through a boulder-strewn, meadow-filled Sierra Nevada valley.

I photographed this scene in what a colleague refers to as “the quiet light” — the soft light in shade, found here during the daytime but also found before sunrise and after sunset. This lights is not as striking as the more dramatically colored light of sunrise and sunset, but it has a special peaceful quality.

The lake wrapped around our basecamp, with nearby streams flowing into and out of it. The rocky shoreline on the far bank is backed by tiny bits of meadow, some trees, and a series of rocky benches rising to a low, glaciated ridge. Beyond that — and not visible from here — is an alpine lake. And above that rocky talus slopes rise toward the base of the highest peaks, in a world of rock.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Reflections, Rocky Shoreline*

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Reflections, Rocky Shoreline
Huge rocky slabs meet the shorline of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

* This is the second of two photographs that I’m posting for an unusual reason — after the original post I rethought the aspect ratio of the photograph and decided that I like it in the (unusual for me!) square format. The text below is the same as that used in the original post.

Reflections, Rocky Shoreline. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Huge rocky slabs meet the shorline of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake.

A group of us recently spent a week camped at 11,000′ in a landscape of water, glaciated rocks, meadows, and high peaks. AS the week went on we gradually pushed out the boundaries of our photographic explorations. My first view of this formation was on my initial scouting trip to this lake — I did not photograph it on that visit, but I made a mental note to return when the light would be more ideal. In this case, “ideal” meant “not in full sun,” so my plan was to come back in the early morning and evening hours. Early morning turned out to be best since the air was still at that hour, leaving the water still enough to produce coherent reflections.

I returned a few mornings later. Demonstrating once again the importance of what I might term “attentive serendipity” in photography, even though I got distracted and arrived at the lake later than planned, the timing turned out to be nearly perfect. I had a few minutes to photograph the larger landscape in the pre-sunlight “quiet light” before moving on to photograph this still-shaded scene. And once I finished here, the sunlight cooperated by arriving at a nearby rocky peninsula and both backlighting a tree and turning the water a lovely deep blue color.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Rocks, Water, Reflection*

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Rocks, Water, Reflection
Granite slabs and submerged rocks at the edge of an alpine Sierra Nevada lake

* This is the first of two photographs that I’m posting for an unusual reason — after the original post I rethought the aspect ratio of the photograph and decided that I like it in the (unusual for me!) square format. The text below is the same as that used in the original post.

Rocks, Water, Reflection. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Granite slabs and submerged rocks at the edge of an alpine Sierra Nevada lake.

One advantage of photographing for a long time in one small area is that you may begin to see things that you initially overlooked. I’m often immediately attracted to the large scale landscape — lakes, peaks, forests, sky — and it takes more time, patience, and attention to start to start to see subtler, smaller subjects. These often constitute what has been called the “intimate landscape,” made up of distinctly non-iconic elements, and frequently offering and almost abstract quality of shape, color, and texture.

To find these things I have to slow down a lot. It is easy to become anxious about finding that Great Photograph that will knock viewers over. But those don’t come every day or even every week. Sometimes, in fact, there are long gaps between them. At one point on this trip one of my fellow photographers mentioned that he had seen me from where he was working, and that I seemed to be doing a lot of “contemplation.” Guilty as charged! In a sense, most of the work of photography may be done without the camera. Sure, the camera is in my bag or attached to my tripod, but I’m looking and considering and thinking more than I’m actually making photographs. This photograph comes from one of those moments — I had simply been walking along the edge of “our” lake, spending a lot of time just looking, when I noticed this pattern of granite and still water than I had walked past quite a few times before.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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