Tag Archives: sunrise

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Trees, Volcanic Slopes

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Trees, Volcanic Slopes
Sunrise light on trees ascending the side of a volcanic cone, east of the Sierra Nevada

Trees, Volcanic Slopes. Near Mono Lake, California. July 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunrise light on trees ascending the side of a volcanic cone, east of the Sierra Nevada

I frequently photograph in the Mono Basin, at and around Mono Lake. I have been photographing there long enough that I’ve learned to look beyond the famous tufa formations — worthy photographic subjects that they area — and try to find other elements that also are intrinsic to the character of the place. The lake itself is one subject — its huge expanse, the immense quiet and stillness often found there, the birds, and the sky. The surrounding terrain is also very interesting once you spend some time looking away from the lake: the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, gentle terrain rising to eastward mountains, ponderosa pine forests, and more.

Many years ago I became intrigued by these trees that grow a good distance up the sides of the volcanic domes rising just south of the lake. At certain times the light bathes them in color and can turn a normally drab scene into something quite striking. ON this morning the sun had just risen into hazy skies, and there was a great deal of red in the light, contrasting with the very blue color of the shadows.

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

Alpine Lake, Morning

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Alpine Lake, Morning
A solitary sunrise angler stands on shoreline rocks at an alpine Sierra Nevada lake reflecting a nearby peak

Alpine Lake, Morning. Eastern Sierra Nevada California. August 7, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary sunrise angler stands on shoreline rocks at an alpine Sierra Nevada lake reflecting a nearby peak

During the first weekend of August I joined a group of friends for a quick backpacking trip into the eastern Sierra Nevada along the northeastern boundary of Yosemite National Park. This wasn’t primarily a photography trip so I went light, carrying a smaller system with only one lens and packing a very small tripod. The first day of the trip was, as we like to say, “interesting.” We woke up to cloudy skies that virtually guaranteed rain, and that guarantee was fulfilled in the late afternoon: I had just time to set up my tend before three hours of rain commenced! The next morning was clear, and after drying out I headed on up the trail to this beautiful lake along the crest.

After five years of historic drought and the resultant loss of permanent snow fields and damaged to vegetation, it is wonderful this year to see the changes created by last winter’s record snowfall. There are still snow banks everywhere, and even in August there were many snow crossings. On the morning after our night at this lake I got up at dawn and walked to a high place with a panoramic view of the lake and its surroundings. Just as the first sunlight began to stream across the shoulder of the peak across the lake a lone angler came to the shoreline and (thank you!) began to fish from a granite outcropping, framed against the reflection of the peak and morning sky.

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: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

From Tufa To Mountains, Dawn

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From Tufa To Mountains, Dawn
Predawn light above high desert mountains, reflecting on the surface of Mono Lake

From Tufa To Mountains, Dawn. Mono Lake, California. July 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Predawn light above high desert mountains, reflecting on the surface of Mono Lake

Mono Lake is famed for several things, among them the remarkable tufa towers found in several locations along the shoreline of this great land-locked lake east of the Sierra Nevada. And, yes, this photograph includes a few of those towers — a small group that lies far enough from the shoreline to make them less accessible and interesting to most photographers. (No, that isn’t Nessie — or a band of Nessie lookalikes — at the lower left corner.)

But tufa towers are not my primary or strongest association with this place. Mine include more ephemeral things — the sense of huge space, the expanse of the sky (accentuated by the distance and smallness of surrounding mountains), the deep quiet that is broken only by the sounds of birds and wind. In my experience, to understand those things about this place you must find a quiet place away from other people and perhaps just “be” there quietly, long enough to let its stillness begin to affect you, too. On this morning I arrived in Mono Basin before dawn, ending up at a spot that is not typically regarded as being iconic. Being early, I was in no hurry, so I set up my camera and tripod and just looked for a while before beginning to make photographs of the predawn light from beyond the eastern mountains as it reflected on the breeze-ruffled surface of the lake.

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

Eastside Dawn

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Eastside Dawn
Dawn light on the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada near Long Valley

Eastside Dawn. Sierra Nevada, California. October 10, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light on the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada near Long Valley

I regard myself as a bit of a sunrise connoisseur, having arisen well before dawn on many, many mornings — almost every morning, actually — and often gone out to observe and photograph at first light. Trust me, I do understand how hard it is to get out of a warm bed (or warm sleeping bag) in darkness, dress, and head out into the still-dark world. But if you can start to make it a habit there is a good chance that you’ll become addicted — and what better kind of addiction is there than to need to see the first light?

I photographed this on an autumn morning when I headed out into the valley to the east of the escarpment of the Sierra. It was, as it usually is in mid-October, very cold when we arrived. But it was also very quiet and still, and steam was rising from nearby springs and creeks as the sky began to listen and the first light touched the peaks of the Sierra. It worked its way down the face of the range, across fluted alpine faces, into deep mountain valleys, and eventually to the rounded, tree-covered hills at the foot of the range.

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.