Tag Archives: smoke

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

Autumn Aspens, Eastern Sierra Lake

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Autumn Aspens, Eastern Sierra Lake
Faint wildfire smoke and fall aspen color around an Eastern Sierra Nevada lake.

Autumn Aspens, Eastern Sierra Lake. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Faint wildfire smoke and fall aspen color around an Eastern Sierra Nevada lake.

Along the same lines as another photograph I recently wrote about, this one is an alternate framing of a scene that I previously shared in a landscape mode photograph. (For folks unfamiliar with this terminology, “portrait” mode is taller than it is wide and “landscape” mode is wider than it is tall.) When I wrote about the decision to create two versions of such a scene I proposed two reasons for doing so. First, I cannot always say with certainty which formatting is better. Second, clients (especially in the publishing world) are often quite specific about which they need, so it makes sense to have both if possible.

There is another practical factor at work in this case, too. Before I went to this spot I had a fairly specific idea of the camera position I wanted to use and of how I wanted to incorporate the red foreground trees with the lake, the more distant colorful aspens, and the higher mountains. So I got their very early — early enough that I took a headlamp when I walked to this spot — and prepared to work from more or less the same spot as the light evolved. And it evolved a lot on this morning. Before sunrise there was abundant wildfire smoke floating around and the scene was quite muted and not what I hoped for. Initially I had decided to let the distant part of the scene go and instead focus on the closer portions less affected by the smoke, but as the sun came up it cut through some of the haze. All of this meant that as I worked from this fixed location, waiting for the right light to evolve, and I had plenty of time to try different camera orientations and other small modifications of the composition and framing.

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: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mono Morning

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Mono Morning
Morning light and hazy atmosphere above Mono Lake.

Mono Morning. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light and hazy atmosphere above Mono Lake.

Mono Lake is, of course, particularly known for the tufa formations found along its shoreline and in the close-in shallow waters. These remarkable features were formed underwater and revealed as the lake’s water level dropped. (By looking at the surrounding hills you can observe evidence of much higher prehistoric water levels. ) The lake also affords dramatic views of the steep eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada.

All of these things appeal to me, but they are not what I most associate with the place, namely its vast expanse of stillness and quiet. The scale of the Mono Basin dwarfs the peaks to the west, quite honestly, though you have to slow down a bit more before its stillness gets to you. I think I most like the morning hours, when the air is often still, and when the morning sun can make the atmosphere luminous.

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: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mono Lake, Wildfire Smoke

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Mono Lake, Wildfire Smoke
Mono Lake and tufa towers with drifting wildfire smoke in morning light

Mono Lake, Wildfire Smoke. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mono Lake and tufa towers with drifting wildfire smoke in morning light.

My foremost impressions of Mono Lake are usually formed around its vast expanse — the place is absolutely huge, and the low mountains to its east accentuate this effect. The great open space above its water usually presents an equally expansive view of sky, whether it is pure blue or broken by various clouds. (My other strong impression of the place is an audio impression — a combination of early morning silence and the sounds of thousands of birds.)

I made this photograph during very unusual conditions. On this late-summer morning a very large wildfire was erupting south of here, and its smoke was drifting northward in the early morning. The morning light was increasingly blocked by the smoke and eventually (after I made this photograph) the smoke became oppressively thick and I had to leave. When I made the photograph the smoke was drifting softly in front of those distant mountains and glowing faintly in the early morning backlight.

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.

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Rising Sun, Wildfire Smoke

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Rising Sun, Wildfire Smoke
Morning sun rising through a pall of wildfire smoke, east of the Sierra Nevada

Rising Sun, Wildfire Smoke. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning sun rising through a pall of wildfire smoke, east of the Sierra Nevada,

This was one of the most eerie days I have experienced in the Sierra. While it wasn’t the first of last time I’ve encountered the effects of wildfire there, this was quite different. The previous evening I had seen a bit of smoke far to the south, but didn’t think too much of it, as this was the wildfire season and such things aren’t unusual. I was camped in a deep east side valley that did not afford a distant view, so it wasn’t until I left that valley in the early morning and headed out on the east side fo the range that I saw what was happening.

I arrived at the junction of US 395 and Tioga Pass Road before dawn and found a high spot to photograph Mono Lake. It was immediately clear that a very active wildfire was building to the south and that the smoke was drifting north. It was still mostly clear above the lake, but not for long. Soon the smoke nearly obscured the view, though I continued photographing. I thought that heading north might get me away from the smoke, but now it was spreading fast and I couldn’t escape it. I made a few photographs from a high location that featured the smoke-filled Mono Basin, and then I started toward the southern Sierra. Passing again by Mono Lake I encountered some of the thickest wildfire smoke I have seen. This photograph was made under that pall, which was so dark that it barely seemed like twilight and the light of the sun was almost blocked.

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.