Tag Archives: sunset

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

Evening Shadows, Sierra Crest

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Evening Shadows, Sierra Crest
Mountain shadows on the Sierra Crest at sunset, Yosemite National Park

Evening Shadows, Sierra Crest. Yosemite National Park, California. July 14, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mountain shadows on the Sierra Crest at sunset, Yosemite National Park

Earlier I had photographed in the large meadows along the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne, just below Tioga Pass, continuing to work until the sun dropped behind the long and tall ridge to the west. As I walked back toward my vehicle through the soft light of the shadows, the surrounding peaks were still in full sun. I started thinking about putting a very long lens on the camera and photographing the last light when if finally got to these peaks and ridges.

It took a while! This meadow area loses the light early, so even though I lingered there after the direct sun was gone, I still had quite a while to wait before sunset. The intense coloration of the arctic zone peaks comes from two sources. This section of the Sierra is topped by much older rocks — not granite but very reddish-brownish rocks. By the time I made this photograph the sun was very close to the horizon and the color of the light had warmed considerable, adding even more intense color to the rocks. (Inspecting the image file very closely I learned something new — there is a faint trail traversing the upper slopes of the ridge at the left!)

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: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Geese, Sunset Clouds

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Geese, Sunset Clouds
A line of Ross’s geese fly in front of sunset clouds, San Joaquin Valley

Geese, Sunset Clouds. San Joaquin Valley, California. February 28, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A line of Ross’s geese fly in front of sunset clouds, San Joaquin Valley

It is summer… and I miss winter! I used to think that it was more of the case that I simply look forward to whatever season it isn’t, but I have come to realize that summer just isn’t my favorite time of year — at least not for photography. (Don’t take this the wrong way, though. There is plenty to photograph all year long, and I make a lot of photographs during the summer, too.) Over the past few years I have come to love the winter Central Valley, especially when I can photograph migratory birds, fog, and the immense skyscape.

This late-February day was special for photography. Surprisingly, it began in Yosemite Valley, where we had been for several days for the opening on the Yosemite Renaissance exhibit. Up early, we photographed in the Valley until midday, and then we began a lazy westward drive though the foothills that would take us to San Joaquin Valley wetlands to photograph birds at the end of the day.  In the evening there was a tremendous fly-in of geese and cranes, and large flocks passed in front of beautiful clouds. Here a flock of Ross’s geese is backlit by the light from the west.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Desert Mountains, Last Light

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Desert Mountains, Last Light
Evening light passes across the rugged face of desert mountains, Death Valley National Park

Desert Mountains, Last Light. Death Valley National Park. March 31, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light passes across the rugged face of desert mountains, Death Valley National Park

At the risk of repeating something I have already written several times, scenes like this one have a particular way of deceiving us. This is, in the strict sense of the work, a desert scene, photographed in a place that seems very little perception and where it can be oppressively hot and dry and where sandstorms often blow. From this distance there is little obvious evidence that anything living is within the scene.

However, it is also completely obvious that the scene is full of the evidence of the power of water. While the mountains themselves were not created by water — though if you look back far enough to their sedimentary roots perhaps they were! — they were most certainly shaped by water. The rugged ridges and gullies are clear evidence of the power of water, and even that gradual slope at the bottom of the mountains is an alluvial fan, created over long periods of time as water washed down material eroded from those mountains.

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: Southern California

Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory

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Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory
Visitors to the Griffith Observatory watch the autumn sunset.

Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory. Los Angeles, California. November 28, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors to the Griffith Observatory watch the autumn sunset.

Before this trip to the Los Angeles area, where I’ve been many times over the years, I had never actually been to the iconic Griffith Observatory overlooking the LA basin. That should probably embarrass me at least a little bit as a near-native Californian — but, heck, I’ve been to Disneyland! ;-)

We were actually staying much further south, in the Mission Viejo area, but we decided to spend a day farther north in Los Angeles. We (well, OK, I) wanted to visit a particular photography museum, and we had a restaurant in mind for dinner. In the end, we found ourselves with a bit of extra time and someone picked the Observatory as a good place to spend it. I had not idea it was so popular, and when we got there we found huge crowds — perhaps because it was just about sunset, and there is hardly a better place to be at sunset than here. I made this photograph, shooting handheld in the evening light, and was fascinated by the dense crowd of people packed onto the terraces surrounding the building.

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.