Tag Archives: sub

Photographs: Cascades, Photographs: Nature

Artist Point Meadow, Mount Shuksan

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Artist Point Meadow, Mount Shuksan
Artist Point Meadow, Mount Shuksan

Artist Point Meadow, Mount Shuksan. Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington. August 28, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The view of cloud-shrouded Mount Shuksan from a heather-filled sub-alpine meadow at Artist Point, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington.

As my brother and I came around the corner of this trail along the side of the Artist Point ridge, it took our breath away. I arrived a moment after he did, and found him already down among the heather flowers near the small run-off creek setting up his tilt-shift lens to make a close-up photograph of the flowers with the mountains in the distance. Once he finished, I went to work on this wider view of the scene, including the nearby foreground meadow and flowers, the trees along the edge of the drop-off, the pool of light in the valley beyond, and the shoulder of cloud-rimmed Mt. Shuksan with a dramatic sky beyond.

On a technical note, this was a very difficult exposure. When I looked down at the flowers and plants I saw what you see here, and when I looked up I saw the cloud-filled sky roughly as it appears in this photograph – but the dynamic range was so wide (ranging from parts of the foreground trees in deep shadow to distant snow fields in direct sun) that one exposure could not capture all of the scene data… so I used three which were then combined in post using masked layers and blended manually.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Cascades, Photographs: Nature

Ferns and Rocks, Artist Point

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Ferns and Rocks, Artist Point
Ferns and Rocks, Artist Point

Ferns and Rocks, Artist Point. Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington. August, 28, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ferns grow among the rocks of a sub-alpine talus field at Artist Point, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington.

New mountains!

I have (barely) visited parts of the Cascades range of Washington, but it was some years ago and I did not make photographs at the time. This past week I finally had an opportunity to do some real photography in this spectacular mountain range when I accompanied my brother (Richard Mitchell to the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest where we visited Artist Point, a spectacular sub-alpine ridge located between the peaks of Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan.

As a long time “Sierra guy” (who has probably spent a total of over two years of his life on the trail in that range) I compare everything to my “home range.” While the Sierra is (are?) in my blood and that isn’t likely to change any time soon, these Washington mountains have (as Washington residents know) a lot to offer. The first thing that I noticed – though you won’t see it in this photograph – is that you quickly get up close and personal with some very large and impressive ice fields and glaciers. In the Sierra we see small glaciers, but they are tame compared to the hulking monsters of the Cascades. As we approached this area and I caught my first view of Shuksan the glaciers were the first thing that I noticed. In addition, you reach sub-alpine and alpine terrain at much lower elevations than in the Sierra. The 5,000’+ area where we photographed felt like a about 10,000′ in the Sierra.

I made this photograph near the end of our visit to Artist Point, in the very late afternoon as the sun dropped and the light began to warm and back-light these plants. These ferns were growing among the rocks of a talus field alongside the trail. There is a little lesson in how this photograph came about. A few hours earlier we had walked past this little area of ferns and rocks and I had paused for some minutes, trying in vain to find a composition there that worked. I knew that there was something about it that was interesting, but I just could not “see” it at that earlier hour. (I’m blaming the light! :-) So we moved on and spend good, productive time photographing in beautiful areas further along the trail. Eventually we realized that we had stayed longer than planned, and that if we were to make it to another site that we had scoped out for golden hour photography we had to high-tail it back down to the parking lot. We loaded up and began the dash down the trail. As I sped past this section, something momentarily caught my attention and brought me up short. Coming back down the trail and now in light that had changed a great deal, I saw photographic potential in the subject that I had not been able to find before – so I stopped and made this photograph.

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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: People, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Backpackers Near Milestone Basin

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Backpackers, Near MIlestone Basin
Backpackers, Near MIlestone Basin

Backpackers, Near Milestone Basin. Sierra Nevada, California. August, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved

Two backpackers descend through sub-alpine meadows toward the peaks of the Great Western Divide near Milestsone Basin, Sequoia National Park.

My two friends, Caroline and Owen, head through a lovely sub-alpine meadow toward the peaks of the Great Western Divide and the upper Kern River drainage of the Sierra Nevada in early August. (When doing backpacking photography it is always good to be accompanied by friends with colorful gear! My clothing color scheme is not conducive to photography, consisting mostly of colors that match the rocks, grasses, and dirt…)

This is a spectacular and less-visited area of the Sierra, being very high and at least two days from any trailhead – and those trailheads lead over very high Sierra crest passes. We hit it at perhaps the peak of its seasonal beauty – despite the clouds of mosquitoes, everything was tremendously green. Even in the late morning hour – not typically the time for photography – the scene was quite something. Our trail here passed through a succession of small, intimate meadows surrounded by rolling hills and filled with scattered glacial rocks, occasionally passing by small lakes and tarns — perhaps my favorite kind of Sierra terrain!

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

Late Season Subalpine Meadow and Creek

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Late Season Subalpine Meadow and Creek

Late Season Subalpine Meadow and Creek. Near Evelyn Lake, Yosemite National Park, California. September 9, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dry creekbed meanders through a boulder-filled golden late-season Sierra Nevada meadow at sunset near Evelyn Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

This is another view of the “backyard” of my solo-backpacking camp site near Evelyn Lake back in early September of this year. Dusk has fallen across the meadow and the twisting creekbed leading to the lake, but a bit of alpenglow lingers on the clouds beyond the tree-lined ridge.

This photograph is evidence of the early onset of “fall” in the high country. Although the equinox was still nearly two weeks away, the plants here had lost their summer appearance – the meadow was almost entirely brown or golden and the small creek, which would contribute to the flooding of this lakeside meadow earlier in the season had already stopped flowing.

(By starting my “fall” season in late summer in the high country I can manage to experience fall colors for at least three months every year!. I often see the first hints of the change in the highest country even earlier than the date of this photograph. Then by late September and early October the Sierra aspen color show is in full swing. By the end of the month I can find great colors at lower elevations on the west side of the range, such as in Yosemite Valley. After that the colors continue to develop through November in the coastal areas of central and northern California, and here in the SF Bay Area there are still a lot of fall colors to be seen.)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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