Tag Archives: stock

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Yosemite

Reflected Evening Sky, Tuolumne River

Leave a comment
Reflected Evening Sky, Tuolumne River - A solitary boulder interrupts the flow of the Tuolumne River as it reflects the colors of sunset sky, Yosemite National Park.
A solitary boulder interrupts the flow of the Tuolumne River as it reflects the colors of sunset sky, Yosemite National Park.

Reflected Evening Sky, Tuolumne River. Yosemite National Park, California. July 12, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary boulder interrupts the flow of the Tuolumne River as it reflects the colors of sunset sky, Yosemite National Park.

I’m just back from a few days photographing in the greater Tuolumne Meadows area of the Yosemite and the Sierra. I stayed in Tuolumne for a couple of nights and then one additional night at a forest service campground just east of the pass, allowing me the better part of four days of photography in the area between about Tenaya Lake and the pass, plus some areas east of the pass. I even managed to get down to Mono Lake for one very early morning shoot. For those who haven’t been up there yet this season, this is a very different year in many ways related to climate. It is dry! There is virtually no snow left except in the usual “permanent” areas on the highest peaks, water levels are very low, and overall it looks a lot more like late August or even September. (But look around and you’ll still find wildflowers.) Areas of the forest, especially higher up and near passes, seem to have suffered a lot of damage in a late-2011 wind storm. I’ve never seen so many trees downed by wind as I saw near Tioga Pass on this visit.

Since I was camping in Tuolumne Meadows, one day I used the midday hours that are less conducive to photography to scout a few locations along the Tuolumne River. I wandered down from camp, across the meadows, and over towards Soda Springs. From here I picked out a few likely prospects for evening photography – a bend in the river with some interesting trees, a large boulder that might front a photograph of the Cockscomb, and a few others. That evening I returned, hoping for interesting lighting. It was one of those evenings that held the possibility of very interesting sunset and post-sunset light. There were dissipating clouds above the Sierra crest, some clouds directly overhead, and clearing to the west. These conditions can allow light to shine up under the clouds from the west at sunset, and can produce intensely colorful displays. I never know for sure that this will happen, but I know that the conditions increase the chances a great deal… so I’m willing to be there and ready to photograph if it does happen. On this evening it didn’t quite happen. It was a lovely evening and there were colors, but nothing tremendously out of the (relatively nice) ordinary. During the last few minutes of color I was thinking about how there was nothing to the west that could make a photograph that included the light appearing that direction, when I happened to look down on the surface of the river to see this rock and these patterns on the surface of the water.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Embarcadero Center Tower

Leave a comment
Embarcadero Plaza Tower
“Embarcadero Plaza Tower” — Black and white rendition of Embarcadero Plaza Tower, San Francisco.

This may be a bit of a rude shock after all of the recent nature images, but here we go. I made this photograph in early July while spending a couple days in San Francisco. On the first afternoon I went out armed primarily with a, uh, 50mm prime, and I found myself interested in photographing the tall downtown buildings from very close up and with somewhat steep upward angles so that I could accentuate the converging perspective lines. (Some of the others in this series will be significantly abstract interpretations of these subjects.)

I made this while walking through”the row of Embarcadero Center buildings. It was quite close to sunset, so the shadows were beginning to fill a bit more with light than they would during the middle of the day, when the light and shadows are more harsh. However, since I was shooting in shadows and low light, I ended up hand holding the camera at a fairly low shutter speed since I need a relatively small aperture for depth of field, especially since I decided to let the two overhead support beams intrude into the space of the taller building. This image was also the result of some significant work in the post-processing stage, including the application of a blue filter layer (to get the sky to blow out to white) and a blurred overlay layer.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (Click the title to see the full article and to comment if you are viewing it on the home page.)

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest, Meadow, and Stream

Leave a comment

Forest, Meadow, and Stream - A mountain stream winds through a sub-alpine meadow and past lodgepole forest beneath a snow-covered peak in evening light, Yosemite National Park.
A mountain stream winds through a sub-alpine meadow and past lodgepole forest beneath a snow-covered peak in evening light, Yosemite National Park.

Forest, Meadow, and Stream. Yosemite National Park, California. July 28, 2011. © Copyright 201 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A mountain stream winds through a sub-alpine meadow and past lodgepole forest beneath a snow covered peak in evening light, Yosemite National Park.

I know this scene is in Yosemite National Park. I know that it is in the high country along Tioga Pass Road, most likely not too far from Tuolumne Meadows. I know that I made the photograph in the evening after photographing certain other specific subjects in this area. But, for the life of me, I cannot identify the exact location. The peak looks very familiar and I can’t imagine that I had not earlier seen this little bend in the river, but one year after I made the photograph… I’m coming up empty! :-)

Still, there are plenty of things that I do know about this scene. It was late July of the second of two very wet seasons in the Sierra, and the results are plainly visible here in several ways. Even though it was almost August, there is still plenty of snow on the ridge and peak, which must be in the 11,000+’ elevation range, given the alpine appearance of the talus fields. That is a lot of snow for late July! (This year it looked about like that six or eight weeks earlier.) And, not surprisingly given the amount of yet-to-melt snow, the little meadow is still lush and green with early summer growth. And, of course, the stream itself is flowing strongly. I suppose that the main subject of this photograph was and is the beautiful fringe of late-day light on the little grove of trees on the bank of the creek as it meanders through the meadow.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Hostas Leaves #2

Leave a comment

Hostas Leaves #2 - Hostas leaves growing in a Portland, Oregon garden
Hostas leaves growing in a Portland, Oregon garden

Hostas Leaves #2. Portland, Oregon. July 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hostas leaves growing in a Portland, Oregon garden.

I made this small series of photographs of the leaves of hostas plants while wandering around the extensive rose gardens at Portland, Oregon’s Washington Park. I’m not a big fan of photographing roses – though I’m fascinated by looking at them – so I had not made any photographs while visiting that primary area of the garden, but once we began to poke around in some of the peripheral gardens that featured other kinds of plants I started to see things that attracted my own photographic interest more strongly. This set of leaves was in a large bed of hostas plants along a walkway and in the shade, and I thought that the colors and textures of their overlapping leaves created some very interesting patterns.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.