Tag Archives: surface

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Ledge Meets Lake

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Ledge Meets Lake
A ledge llittered with fractured rocks above the shorline of an alpine Sierra Nevada lake.

Ledge Meets Lake. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A ledge llittered with fractured rocks above the shorline of an alpine Sierra Nevada lake.

This little conjunction of rock and water has fascinated me since I first saw it. The lake is in the eastern Sierra Nevada backcountry, above another lake where a group of us went to photograph for a week a couple of years ago. I have a long acquaintance with this upper lake, having first visited it perhaps a couple of decades ago. It is fascinating how my perception of the place changed over time. From that long-ago first visit I only remember that there wasn’t much in the way of obvious campsites here. On later visits I took in more of the alpine surrounds of this lake, which is set in a high bowl. Over several days of repeated visits on the more recent trip I became very familiar with the rocky terrain around the outlet of the lake.

While I’m not completely averse to photographing icons, I spend most of my photographic time in places like this looking for things that I would overlook without careful attention. Seen this way, there are photographic opportunities almost everywhere I look. In fact, I “saw” this little scene it at least four (and counting!) different ways, several of which attentive viewers may recall.

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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest Reflection, Morning

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Forest Reflection, Morning
Morning light on forest trees, reflected on the surface of a backcountry lake.

Forest Reflection, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on forest trees, reflected on the surface of a backcountry lake.

Photographing the special and transitory light at the start and end of the day reminds me of the experience of spring skiing. It can be great, but you’ve got to be there at the right moment, and it doesn’t last long. Early on a spring skiing morning the slopes (be they groomed or natural) are often badly frozen in the early morning. I’ve done a lot of cross-country skiing and a bit of telemark skiing, and I have to say that that refrozen slush can be really nasty stuff. But as the morning warms there is a point where the surface softens just enough and what was nearly impossible become quite wonderful… for a very short time, as the snow soon turns to slush.

Early morning (and evening) light seems a lot like this. In the same way that you need to already be on the slopes while they are icy to catch that bit of wonderful spring snow, you need to be up and about and finding your photographic subjects before the light is ideal — and while the cold and lack of coffee aren’t making things any easier. But if you are out there and you know where to look, at some point the light “happens,” continuously changing as the rising sun works its way across the landscape, illuminating a bit of meadow, a tree, the rim of a peak… and then it becomes too harsh and flat and is gone.

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

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Southern California

Building and Los Angeles Sky

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Building and Los Angeles Sky
Southern California sky reflected on the surfaces of a modern tower.

Building and Los Angeles Sky. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Southern California sky reflected on the surfaces of a modern tower.

Although it seems like it should have been an obvious thing, I recall realizing for the first time that the appearance of modern reflective towers like this one comes more from what is not the building than what is. With the exception of a few boundaries and the varying tones of the lighter and darker portions, the whole surface of the building is not-building stuff, in this case the sky and clouds. It is almost as if this massive structure’s appearance is mostly ephemeral and transient.

I do recall the circumstances of this photograph made back in 2013. We had gone to this area of Los Angeles to visit a museum where an exhibit of photographs by a well-known “nature” photographer was underway. In any case we ended up walking a bit, looking for a place to grab a bite to eat, and we passed an area with several buildings with appearances similar to this one.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Shoreline Bench, Reflections

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Shoreline Bench, Reflections
A rocky bench above the reflecting surface of an alpine Sierra Nevada lake

Shoreline Bench, Reflections. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A rocky bench above the reflecting surface of an alpine Sierra Nevada lake.

Since roughly August of 2005 I have been posting a daily new photograph at my website (https://gdanmitchell.com) and on social media, almost always accompanied by a couple of paragraphs of background. Yes, that is 14 years of daily photograph posts at this site! That’s more than 5000 photograph posts as of the date of this on. I’ve done this for several reasons. First, it is a form of daily practice — the importance of which I learned about in my other life in the world of music. Second, I hope that revealing my working process and thinking about photographs may be useful to others trying to make sense of this medium.

This does mean that — obviously! — you’ll see more than one way of seeing a particular subject since I share this editing process here. Today’s photograph — from my recent weeklong shoot in the Eastern Sierra backcountry — is an example of this in at least a couple of ways. First of all, I recently shared another photograph of this same subject that interpreted it in a different way. (That photograph took a closer look at it — this one includes more of the surrounding visual context.) Secondly, if you scroll back to that other version, you may discover that I shared two examples of that one with different crops.

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 | Facebook | Email

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.