Tag Archives: stone

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Cliff Face, Detail

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Cliff Face, Detail
Abstract forms and colors of a weathered and stained Sierra Nevada cliff

Cliff Face, Detail. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Abstract forms and colors of a weathered and stained Sierra Nevada cliff

As I do almost every summer, I headed into the Sierra Nevada backcountry with a group of friends and photographers over the past week and a half of so. The group has been doing this since about 2001, and I began to work with them nearly a decade ago, eventually moving from showing up as a solo backpacker for a few days to participating fully in the visits. Typically we get packed in to a location with lots of photographic possibilities — a pack string brings in a lot of the gear, while we typically carry in our camera equipment. Once set up we can “work” the surroundings intensively, looking more deeply into the landscape and viewing it in various conditions and light. This provides us with special opportunities to learn the nearby landscape more intimately than if we were just passing through or hiking in and out each day. Equally important, as we live and work together for a week we form a very special little photographic community.

This year we were (again) in the John Muir Wilderness of the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Every place has its own visual personality. In this location high mountains surrounded us and produced several hours of soft, shaded light in the morning and evening, with fill light reflected from surrounding peaks rising into the sunlight…

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fractured Granite

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Fractured Granite
A fractured granite cliff in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Fractured Granite. Sierra Nevada, California. October 9, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fractured granite cliff in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

I made this photograph on a morning when I was in the eastern Sierra to photograph autumn subject, particularly the annual color change of the aspen trees. Being in a place where I have photographed many times, I quickly dispensed with the familiar (and even iconic) subjects in the area and then, as I like to do, simply wandered slowly with my eyes open, looking for little elements of the larger landscape that caught my eye. Although I have walked past this granite quite a few times, it may be the first time I have photographed it.

Granite (along with, as geologist friends might remind me, rocks informally referred to as granite) is ubiquitous in the Sierra, and is one of the most characteristic features of the Sierra Nevada experience. Not only is there a lot of it, but it has been laid bare by (mostly) glacial action, and it appears in its original locations and in places where the rocks have been moved by water and ice. As a person who has hiked here for decades and who spent a few years as a rock climber, I developed an intimate familiarity with this rock. It can be smooth or rough, uniform in color and texture or interspersed with veins and crystals. It can be freezing cold in winter or benignly warm on a summer day. It may be nearly white, gray, or incorporate a host of color variations. It seems to be solid and unchanging, but there is evidence everywhere that it has been moved and broken and shaped.

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

Dogwood and Granite, Autumn

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Dogwood and Granite, Autumn
A small dogwood tree with autumn colors against the face of a granite boulder

Dogwood and Granite, Autumn. Yosemite Valley, California. October 21, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small dogwood tree with autumn colors against the face of a granite boulder

I’m certainly not the only photographer in Yosemite Valley to be intrigued by the juxtaposition of (near) permanent granite and impermanent seasonal subjects, but how can anyone resist? Such opportunities are everywhere, given that the valley is ringed by granite cliffs and filled with large reminders that chunks of these cliffs do periodically break loose and fall into the valley below. We often seem surprised with the news of a rock slide in the Valley, but even a little familiarity with the place makes it obvious that these are the rule and not the exception. Giant rock piles sit at the bases of cliffs. Recent slides are visible. And almost everywhere in the Valley, often surprisingly far from the cliffs, there are gigantic boulders that could only have arrived there from one source.

I happened upon this yellow autumn dogwood and its boulder while driving along one of the valley roads. Yes, that is almost an embarrassing admission — though most of my photographs of this type come while hiking. It was one of those moments when I catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye, immediately pull over (from driving or hiking) and see if I can find a photograph in it. Since I’ve already admitted to finding this photograph while driving, how about another admission? The biggest challenge of making this photograph? Waiting for the leaves to stop swinging back and forth in the breeze created by passing cars!

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Trees and Stone

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Trees and Stone
Trees, a boulder, cliffs and towers — Pinnacles National Park

Trees and Stone. Pinnacles National Park, California. March 17, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees, a boulder, cliffs and towers — Pinnacles National Park

Visiting Pinnacles National Monument last week presented me with an unusual experience. Typically I photograph in two kinds of places. To simplify a bit, one sort is the places that I have photographed repeatedly over long periods of time, and which I have gotten to know intimately. The other type would be places that I don’t know at all, and which I come to with an almost “blank slate,” discovering their character directly as I encounter them. “The Pinnacles,” as I’ve referred to the place for years, doesn’t quite fit into either category. When I was much younger I frequently visited the place, starting with my parents when I was quite young and continuing into my twenties when I was a rock climber. So some memories and sensations from the place a deeply embedded in my memory and experience. But they I stopped going there and has been decades since I was last there.

With that in mind, it is no surprise that my first visit included quite a few “I remember this!” moments, combined with about as many “This is new!” moments. We mostly visited the east side when I was young, but this time I arrived from the west. I had hiked the high peaks trail, and even climbed some of its pinnacles, but I was surprised to (re)discover just how narrow, steep and exposed it is. So my approach to the place was a combination of working with what I know and discovering what was new. In the end it felt like I was sort of “feeling my way” back into familiarity with the place. I could not yet quite see how to photograph some seemingly obvious subjects, such as the high peaks area, so I focused on many non-iconic subjects, such as the scene of gray and red rocks and trees in this photograph.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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