Tag Archives: summer

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dawn, Mono Lake and Sierra Crest

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Dawn, Mono Lake and Sierra Crest
Dawn light on the Sierra crest at South Tufa, Mono Lake

Dawn, Mono Lake and Sierra Crest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light on the Sierra crest at South Tufa, Mono Lake

There is a bit of a story behind the choice to post this photograph today. And that story may help explain the posting of more than a few older photographs this month. Every December, like so many other photographers, I prepare a set of “favorite photographs” from the year that is about to conclude. (Something happened this past December and I was delayed in this process. One thing led to another and I never did post my annual set of favorites for 2017!) Part of my process for preparing the list of favorites is to go through ALL of my raw files from the year, and I often discover interesting work that I missed as I engage in this process. I didn’t do that either… so I’m now digging back into the older files to see what I missed. So expect a mixture of current and older work through August and possibly into early September.

To make things a bit more confusing, this photograph is even older! It comes from 2007. Once I get into this process of looking at old files, I never know where it will lead! I made the photograph on a lovely, quiet morning at Mono Lake, when the water was still and the first light was shining on the eastern Sierra Nevada.

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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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Sierra Sunset Sky

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Sierra Sunset Sky
Dissipating thunderstorm clouds and summer Sierra Nevada sunset sky

Sierra Sunset Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dissipating thunderstorm clouds and summer Sierra Nevada sunset sky

This was one of the later photographs in the quick series I made during the very last few minutes of this evening, on which gray and flat light suddenly morphed into a show of spectacular color for a few moments right at sunset. Clouds were thick above my position. There were some breaks to the west, but they appeared to be too far north to let direct light reach me or my surroundings. But, so far to the west as to be beyond my sight, there was apparently a shallow break between the distant edge of the cloud shield and the horizon. Moments before sunset this light came in under the clouds and suffused the landscape with color.

I worked quickly to make photographs of the intensely colorful light on mountain peaks along the Sierra crest and on nearer granite domes and spires. This light began to fade after just a few short minutes, so I turned my attention back to the west where the clouds were rapidly dissipating. Above two ridge lines, one of rock and one covered by forest trees, layers of clouds were arrayed against the colorful sky.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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: New York City, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Gelato Stand, Evening

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Gelato Stand, Evening
People stop at a Little Italy gelato stand on a summer evening, Manhattan

Gelato Stand, Evening. New York City. July 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People stop at a Little Italy gelato stand on a summer evening, Manhattan

Near the end of the year it is my custom to start going back to my raw file archives from the previous year, looking for photographs that I might have overlooked initially. Sometimes I missed them because I was working on other things that caught my attention at the time. In other cases there were simply a lot of photographs, and I moved on to other work before finishing with an earlier set of photographs. I’m starting that project now, so you are likely to see some older work mixed in with more recent photographs over the next few weeks.

We spent a week in New York City in July. (Yes, I know that smart people don’t go to New York during the hot and humid summer months. But I do. Draw your own conclusions… ;-) This time we stayed in the general area of Little Italy. That area is a bit of a tourist place, but it is also an interesting place to wander at night. There are lots of light, lots of shops, and lots of people out and about. On this evening I headed out from the hotel just after dark and did a quick loop through the neighborhood with my camera. Here a group of people lines up at a small gelato stand, while someone shops next door and nearby people sit on benches along the sidewalk.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Trail, and Wildflowers

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Meadow, Trail, and Wildflowers
A use trail passes through a wildflower-filled meadow in the John Muir Wilderness on a late summer evening

Meadow, Trail, and Wildflowers. John Muir Wilderness, California. August 30, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A use trail passes through a wildflower-filled meadow in the John Muir Wilderness on a late summer evening

We became very familiar with this little section of unofficial “use trail” near our base camp for our recent sojourn into the John Muir Wilderness of the Sierra Nevada range. Our camp was relatively hidden among trees up on the top of a nearby moraine ridge, but these meadows became a second home to us for over a week. I first used this trail when I arrived on our first day, following behind the rest of the group who had arrived a bit earlier. Near the outlet stream of the lake seen in the distance in the photograph, I turned right and headed up along its shoreline, following this path. It was only after passing the lake and starting to climb that I began to wonder if I was now past our camp — and, yes, I had to backtrack.

There were many places worthy of exploration all around out camp. Some were further away — a higher open meadow, a rocky ridge, narrow meadows full of flowers. But the areas around “our” lake drew us back, and many of us visited them every day at some point. On this evening I set out to simply wander the meadow and see what I could find, and I decided that including the trail in the scene made a lot of sense. Also of note, the meadow was still wet and green and wildflowers were everywhere — even though it was the very end of the month of August, well past the time when the flowers typically die back and the meadow grass turns golden.

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.