Tag Archives: snow

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

Aspens and Autumn Snow

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Aspens and Autumn Snow
Early autumn snow and aspens changing color in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspens and Autumn Snow. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early autumn snow and aspens changing color in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Yesterday I was out on one of my regular urban walks, and as I crossed over a local creek on a bridge I noticed a significant number of yellow leaves on trees and on the ground. To be sure, there are still far more green leaves, and the actual full-on arrival of autumn color is many weeks away. (Here in California it is common to raise our expectations of fall’s imminent arrival in early September… only to realize once again that we have a month and a half of mostly warm weather ahead of us.) But it is clear that the seasons are in transition and that autumn is coming.

Scenes like the one on this photograph are still a good month away at best. This small grove of aspens grows in an area of what is more or less high desert along the eastern edge of the range. I fondly recall this day and many others like it, traveling along the base of these mountains, looking for aspen color, and seeing snow showers above the crest and signifying the approach of winter.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Southern California

From The Panamints to the Sierra

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From The Panamints to the Sierra
The distant Sierra Nevada peaks are visible from the crest of the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley National Park.

From The Panamints to the Sierra. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The distant Sierra Nevada peaks are visible from the crest of the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley National Park.

There is a misconception out there that “you can see the highest point in the 48 states from the lowest point in the 48 states” if you visit Death Valley. This is sometimes shortened: “You can see Mount Whitney from Death Valley.” Sorry to say, but that isn’t quite true. However the truth is pretty impressive nonetheless — from elevated locations in Death Valley National Park you can see both the lowest and highest spots.

I made this photograph early in the morning from one such location. Death Valley itself lay behind my camera position, many thousands of feet below this high ridge. And there in the distance are the peaks of the southern Sierra Nevada, along the eastern edge of Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. Between these points is a remarkable stretch of very rugged and dry landscape with only a few easy access points to most of it.

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

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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

Cirque In Shadow

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Cirque In Shadow
A high country cirque in shadows, surrounded by a landscape of talus, cliffs and late-season patches of snow.

Cirque In Shadow. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A high country cirque in shadows, surrounded by a landscape of talus, cliffs and late-season patches of snow.

Over the past decade-plus I have traveled into the Sierra backcountry almost annually with a group of fellow photographers each summer. We’ve photographed from Yosemite to Sequoia-Kings Canyon and some non-park areas along the eastern edge of the range. Our practice has been to take a day or two to get to a suitable spot where we set up a basecamp and then photograph the heck out of the surrounding area. One plus of this approach, as contrasted with trying to cover more ground by moving daily, is that we get to become more intimately familiar with the rhythms of the place.

I made this photograph a few years ago on one of these trips. We camped in thin forest at a nice high-country lake mostly surrounded by rocky terrain. Over the course of the week we explored the surroundings, gradually uncovering what the area had to offer. This lake is one of several along the course of a small stream coming down from much higher country, and it lies in an east-facing cirque more or less at timberline. The late-season snow field in the talus field attracted me from the first time I saw it, and it was only after several visits that I decided to try photographing it in the deep shade from the surrounding peaks and ridges.

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

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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, Photography and Music

Shoreline, Sunset

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Shoreline, Sunset
The shoreline of an alpine lake at sunset, Yosemite Naitonal Park.

Shoreline, Sunset. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The shoreline of an alpine lake at sunset, Yosemite Naitonal Park.

We were camped at a backcountry lake in northern Yosemite. Our group of photographers were there for a long enough period of time to photograph the lake itself and to explore the surrounding terrain — other lakes, talus fields, high ridges, and more. On this evening we all had the same idea — to follow the inlet stream of “our” lake up a slope toward the next higher lake in the drainage.

I made this photograph near the upper lake’s outlet, where the terrain flattened out and wetter, almost swampy areas surrounded the water. This spot, being higher than surrounding country, was fully open to the west and the low angle sun sloped across these small trees, standing against a background of a late-season snow field and the base of a rocky slope.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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