Tag Archives: sun

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Morning, Round Valley

January 14, 2015 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Morning light on the pastureland and trees of Round Valley and the eastern Sierra Nevada

This lovely pastoral location sits at the base of the eastern Sierra, and is as much a part of the Owens Valley as it is a part of the Sierra. It is green and lush in the spring and early summer, it takes on some of the typical California golden color later on, and its brown grasses and colorful leaves produce a beautiful sight in autumn. It is not at all a “destination,” but it is a place that I always look forward to seeing when I pass up and down the east side of the range.

There are two particularly beautiful lighting conditions that occur here. One, which I’ll share in another photograph a bit later, occurs in the afternoon. The sun drops behind a tall ridge along the upper section of the valley, leaving the steep slopes of the eastern Sierra escarpment in shade while brilliantly lighting the autumn-colored cottonwood trees from behind. The other lighting, which is seen in this photograph, comes in the morning, when low angle light crosses the meadow, creating long shadows and gradually lighting up the backdrop of the Sierra.

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.

Morning Musings, News, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Meadow Fire Smoke Plume – Morning Musings for 9/13/14

September 13, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thick smoke from the September 2014 Yosemite National Park Meadow Fire drifts over the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, blotting out the afternoon sun.

Today’s “Morning Musing” post will take the form of a second “photo of the day,” but with a bit of back-story about what you are seeing.

Last weekend a wildfire suddenly appeared in a popular area of the Yosemite backcountry along the Merced River drainage above Yosemite Valley, roughly between Half Dome, Clouds Rest, and Mount Starr King. I was not in the area of the fire, but further north in a different backcountry area, where our group of photographers had been camped for several days on a high ridge area. On this morning we did see a small “puff” of smoke coming from over the shoulder of Clouds Rest, but it was no larger than other fires that, as is typical this time of year, were burning in various areas of the backcountry.

Our plan was to pack up camp and follow a more-or-less cross-country route into a canyon and on to a new camp that night. We loaded up and set out, and by the time we were half way to our goal the smoke plume has begun to stretch across the sky above our position, thought it was still quite diluted. However, very soon the winds whipped up to a surprising degree and the smoke suddenly became a lot thicker and began to blot out the sun and drop ash on us. By this time we were in a valley and could no longer see the location of the fire, but it was plainly apparent that this fire was roaring and likely to become a very serious matter.

This photograph has not been color corrected at all. This is, in fact, what the atmosphere in and above the canyon looked like! Fortuitously, later that evening as we sat around in camp, we saw a flash in the sky and heard thunder… and before long light rains arrived and continued into the next afternoon.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Western Horizon

August 11, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Thin clouds above afternoon sunlight reflected on the Pacific Ocean

This photograph begins a series from recent photographs of the Big Sur coast along the Pacific Coast Highway in California. After a week of being cooped up at home (which construction work was underway) I was itching to get out into the (more) real world, so I took a day for a long, all-day trip down this coast and back to make photographs. The trip reminded me of a lot of things, but among them was how wonderful it is, on a day of terrible inland heat, to be able to hug this coast where it remained cool and damp!

I’m one of those who is fascinated by the brilliant sunlit ocean surface and the way that it can recede towards an almost invisible horizon when the combination of light and atmospheric haze is just right. The high bluffs along this route can be excellent places to observe this and more.* At times the surface of the ocean takes on the appearance of molten metal and is almost too bright to look at. I always watch for these conditions when I am in this area, and I was not disappointed on this visit. In this scene, a group of passing thin clouds provides a visual counterpoint to the brilliant reflection on the ocean’s surface.

The “and more” I’m thinking of refers to an unbelievable California coastal experience that I shared with a number of other visitors at the end of this day. There are few other places in the world where you can pause at the top of cliffs hundreds of feet above the open sea at sunset, and watch for perhaps a half hour as a pod of gray whales assembles to feed, periodically breaching.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Decaying Shoreline Docks

June 26, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Decaying docks along the San Francisco Bay waterfront

Early on a late-spring morning I arrived in San Francisco on the train, reaching the waterfront area not too long after sunrise and then exploring on foot. I wandered over into the China Basin area, which is currently a hotbed of construction projects. This formerly almost abandoned area is now the location of many new buildings and projects.

I passed through those areas and soon arrived at the waterfront, which so far does not show much of the newness that is found a bit further from the shoreline. Here a rocky breakwater runs along the edge of the water, and old broken down piers sag above and sometimes into the water. Out on the bay there are tankers moored on the horizon, and the brilliant morning sun was rising above a thin fog back on the east side of the bay. For some odd reason, an old lawn chair sets near one end of this rickety dock.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sun

Autumn Morning, Round Valley

Meadow Fire Smoke Plume – Morning Musings for 9/13/14

Western Horizon

Decaying Shoreline Docks

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.