Tag Archives: spire

River Ouse, Evening

River Ouse, Evening
“River Ouse, Evening” — Early evening light on buildings along the River Ouse, York, England.

I believe that I made this photograph on our last evening in York this past June. We had spent the day wandering the central old city, occasionally in rain, and we were now headed back to our lodgings on a road that paralleled the River Ouse as it passes through the center of the city. It was a straight shot to our destination up a street we had walked a few times, but I saw a side street heading towards the water and decided to detour.

It turned out that a few others had the same idea, apparently coming to the quiet banks of the river to enjoy the evening. As we watched the end-of-day light take on warmer tones, a group (perhaps from a local school) of young people assembled on the opposite bank in front of this neighborhood of older brick buildings.


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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Spire, Mist, and Snow

Spire, Mist, and Snow
A Yosemite spire briefly emerges from mist and snow

Spire, Mist, and Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Yosemite spire briefly emerges from mist and snow

During winter conditions, with snow and clouds and mists, interesting details appear all around Yosemite Valley, often in places that we might pay almost not attention to in more benign conditions. It is possible to think of the granite walls of the Valley as being monolithic, but the reality is the they are full of texture and detail that simply gets overlooked against the monumental scale of the most famous features. But when the dramatic conditions of winter (and late fall and early spring) arrive, bits and pieces of the landscape can briefly emerge from obscurity.

I don’t know if this feature even has a name, but I’ve been watching it in such conditions for a while, trying to figure out how to photograph it. For one thing, it requires a long lens — from a distance the area encompassed by this photograph is small. For another, it requires special light and atmosphere — ideally muted by ever-so-slightly directional light plus swirling mists and clouds. Both were present on this day as an early spring snow storm passed through the Valley.


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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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Forest, Cliffs, and Snow

Forest, Cliffs, and Snow
A snowy forest leads into the mountains between cliffs and spires

Forest, Cliffs, and Snow. Yosemite Valley, California. February 25, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A snowy forest leads into the mountains between cliffs and spires

The iconic features of Yosemite Valley are famous with good reason, and they continue to impress even after many visits. But over time you discover that these are not the only things to be found here, and that in almost any direction you look it is possible to find something interesting, beautiful, or even stunning.

Winter conditions change everything. In places where it will be warm in a few months and people might float past on the river, during the cold season the view can sometimes take on an arctic or alpine character. I like searching for and photographing little vignettes in the landscape, subjects that only become visible when I pause and take the time to look at the familiar landscape more closely. I used a long lens to photographed this little scene of a snow filled gully between two rocky prominences, leading upward toward higher snow slopes.


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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Autumn Snow, Bear Creek Spire

Autumn Snow, Bear Creek Spire
Autumn Snow, Bear Creek Spire

Autumn Snow, Bear Creek Spire. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 6, 2007. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early season autumn snow below Bear Creek Spire, Eastern Sierra Nevada

This little lake might be familiar to a number of viewers who hike in the eastern Sierra, as it is not too far up a popular trail to other east side access points for backpackers and day hikers. I have been there quite a few times over the years, though rarely with the lake itself as the objective. There is one exception. I recall one pack trip quite a few years ago, when a friend and I had arrived at the trailhead quite late in the day. We wanted to get a head start on the next day’s hike, so we headed out and dusk and got just far enough up the trail to set up a crude camp (I was just using a bivy sack, if I recall correctly) after dark.

The story behind this photograph is a different one. As I often do in October, I headed to the eastern Sierra to photograph that annual fall aspen color show. My plans are usually quite general, and I prefer to sort of follow my hunches as I poke around in various east side locations looking for photographs. I had been working with a client who wanted a photograph of a peak that appears in this photograph, and when I saw the conditions (nice weather and new snow) it occurred to me that I might quickly find something that would work better for my client than the photos I had already proposed. So I drove up to the trailhead (which I often visit anyway), shouldered my camera pack, and headed to this quiet spot where the scene look at lot more like winter than early autumn!


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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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