Tag Archives: sun

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

Creek and Meadow Above Evelyn Lake

December 10, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Trailless meadow and rolling hills along a creek above Evelyn Lake in the Yosemite Naitonal Park back-country near Fletcher Lake.

This type of country, and this area in particular, is perhaps my favorite Sierra terrain. After camping and photographing at Evelyn Lake the previous night, I woke up and spent the morning doing more photography around the lake. My hiking goal for the day was barely a mile away, Fletcher Lake and the meadows near the Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. Instead of just heading up the short trail over the low ridge between the two lakes I began scoping out the easy climb up the granite slabs above Evelyn Lake. From many previous visits to the area I knew that there is a large, rolling subalpine meadow dotted with trees, streams, and boulders in the area roughly bounded by Evelyn, Townsley, and Ireland Lakes. There is no trail through the area, but it is some of the easiest and most pleasant cross-country hiking I know of.

I started by circling around the side of Evelyn Lake near the ascent, gradually angling up and across the rocky hillside. Gradually the terrain steepened and I began to follow benches and gullies up the incline, finally spotting an area just to the left of the inlet stream to the lake that looked like it would provide a good crossing to the plateau. I arrived there and saw the lower area to my right where the creek came down from the plateau, so I headed over that way and intersected the shallow gully holding this stream and several small, seasonal ponds. After stopping here to make a few photographs, I continued ambling up this little valley and eventually crossed a broad flat area, passed by a couple alpine tarns, and finally descended past Townsley Lake to reach Fletcher Lake and my camp for the night.

(Update: This morning I thought to acknowledge another reason why I like this sort of place so much. While there are so many iconic and well-known views of the Sierra, this is an example of the sort of intimate landscape that any individual back-country traveler can find. This is just “some little spot along a creek with no trail,” and I’d guess that only a handful of people come past this spot every year and not all of them stop to look at this little scene – but it is no less spectacular on that account.)

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

Sea Lions and Gulls, Sunset – Point Lobos

November 28, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Sea lions and gulls on offshore rocks at sunset in heavy surf – Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

As I photographed this group of offshore rocks in heavy surf near sunset, a group of gulls suddenly came into the scene and tried to land on the sea-lion-covered rocky island. The season beginning at about this time of year until early spring is my favorite for photographing the California coastline – the time when the great Pacific Ocean weather fronts roll through and bring huge surf conditions.

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.

keywords: point, lobos, state, park, reserve, carmel, monterey, peninsula, big, sur, california, usa, ocean, sea, pacific, coast, shore, scenic, stock, travel, nature, gull, bird, fly, land, lion, marine, mammal, surf, wave, spray, wild, mist, reflection, sun, sunset, yellow, orange, light, foam, silhouette, beam, stock

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

Offshore Squall and Layered Clouds, Point Lobos

November 26, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white seascape photograph of a passing offshore squall and layered clouds at Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

This is a somewhat subjective impression of a scene that I witnessed last weekend late in the day along the California coastline as a small weather front passed Point Lobos, causing the weather to quickly switch from sun to brief showers and back to sun. Here the foreground water is in shadow, rain is falling from a luminous stratified cloud and being illuminated from behind. Conditions changed rapidly and this effect was gone in a moment.

This image belongs to a category I like to describe as “imaginary landscapes.” The scene is real and nothing has been added nor taken away, but the photograph has been post-processed in order to create a more subjective view of the scene that I had in mind – it corresponds to something I saw in the scene, but I did not restrict myself to trying to produce an objectively “real” version of the scene.

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.

keywords: point, lobos, state, park, reserve, carmel, monterey, peninsula, big, sur, california, usa, ocean, sea, pacific, coast, shore, scenic, stock, travel, nature, off, shore, storm, clouds, layer, form, shower, squall, passing, seascape, weather, rain, light, sun, reflection, sky, stock, black and white, monochrome

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

Cottonwood Grove, Shadow’s Edge

November 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A grove of autumn cottonwood trees in the last sun as late afternoon shadows fall across the floor of Yosemite Valley near Yosemite Falls.

Late in the afternoon on Halloween this year I was in Leidig Meadow in Yosemite Valley watching the light dim along the cliff faces near Yosemite Falls. As the shadow moved across the Valley toward the meadow it lit this row of cottonwood trees growing between the meadow and the banks of the Merced River.

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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