Tag Archives: summits

Photographs: Albania, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Travel

Albanian Alps

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Albanian Alps
“Albanian Alps” — Rugged peaks of the Albanian Alps, seen from the Valbone River Valley.

As a serious fan of California’s Sierra Nevada, for many years I regarded that spectacular range as more or less the only one worth visiting. And I visited (and still visit) it a lot! My first concrete hint that maybe, just maybe, there were other mountains in the world worth visiting came during a long bicycle trip through Alaska in 1999, where we spent days in sight of huge, ice covered mountains. After a very brief visit to this mountains in Albania, I’m adding them to my list of worthy summits.

We were in Albania for literally only hours. We were staying in Kosovo near Decan, south of Peja, with relatives of a member of our extended European family. He chose to take on on a long drive to the mountains, and I did not even realize we were going into Albania until we arrived at a border station! We ascended the beautiful Valbone River Valley, finally arriving at a resort located at the base of these spectacular mountains.

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

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Dunes, Shadows, and Morning Light

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Dunes, Shadows, and Morning Light
Morning light on sand dunes and desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Dunes, Shadows, and Morning Light. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning light on sand dunes and desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

It is impossible to resist photographing these dunes, though doing so can be a little more complicated than it might seem at first glance. It often initially seems like finding photographs here would be super easy… but it often turns out to be a little more complicated. It isn’t just about the difficulties of working in the sand. I also find that bits and pieces of this landscape are often intriguing but can be a challenge to fit into a successful composition.

This photograph comes from an early morning visit on a clear-sky day, just as the early light was slanting across the landscape. At this moment, direct light was hitting the sun-facing surfaces, but there were still a lot of shadows. In particular, the distant mountain range was just beginning to pick up a little light aloe the ridges but was otherwise still rather dark.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Timberline Lake, Rugged Ridges

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Timberline Lake, Rugged Ridges
A small timberline lake sits on a bench in front of rugged summits of the Great Western Divide

Timberline Lake, Rugged Ridges. Sequoia National Park. August 2, 2010.© Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small timberline lake sits on a bench in front of rugged summits of the Great Western Divide

This is yet another in series of photographs from a 2010 backpack trip into the far reaches of the Kern River drainage in Sequoia National Park. For reasons that I’m not certain that I can identify, last week I decided to go back and take a look at these old photographs, few of which have not previously shared. They exemplify one of the reasons that I rarely delete old raw files, even if they don’t look all that interesting at the time — too often I return to the photographs months or even years later and find things that make me glad I kept them. Sometimes I find photographs that I simply passed over or didn’t understand at the time, and other times I simply have the joy of reliving an experience that had largely slipped from my mind.

On this trip a group of close friends with whom I have backpacked for years were on yet another summer adventure, this time into the remote backcountry of Sequoia National Park. We traveled a popular but long trail over several very high passes to get to the general area, and then we left that trail and headed west to a place that is visited much less frequently, a location tucked back up beneath the Great Western Divide. I had touched the edges of this area a few times before but never had gone straight there — and now I wish that I had visited earlier, as we found an infrequently visited region of monumental mountains and valleys and a stupendous alpine setting. This photograph overlooks a lake on a bench in an area where we camped, and the view extends westward toward the crest of the divide.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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