Tag Archives: surface

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.

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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

Peninsula, Lake, Morning Light

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Peninsula, Lake, Morning Light
Morning light on a rocky peninsula, reflected in the deep green waters of an alpine lake

Peninsula, Lake, Morning Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on a rocky peninsula, reflected in the deep green waters of an alpine lake.

My morning visit to this lake above our basecamp was fortuitously timed. I’d love to take credit for great planning, but I must admit that luck played a big role. I had a plan — it involved heading up that way quite early and then taking the time to ascend a low ridge and walk to the far side of the lake. But none of that happened. While I did get a reasonably early start, I was soon distracted by other subjects along the route to the lake, and I ultimately arrived there later than I had planned. However, my inability to stick to my schedule played to my advantage.

I arrived at the lake’s outlet, a long and narrow channel of still water, to find that the “quiet light” (thanks, Keith Walklet) was still there, so I paused to photograph that scene in soft shadows. Soon I decided to move on and head up and over that low ridge… but I immediately saw another scene that I had to photograph, some lichen-covered rocks along the shoreline. Finishing with this distraction, I now realized that I really had to get moving and climb that ridge. But by now the sunlight was on that ridge, and its reflection was casting lovely soft light back on a rocky peninsula and the boulder-strewn shoreline. So — again! — I stopped to make photographs of this scene. But this one took longer, as the light continued to develop and increase, until sunlight began to illuminate the water itself, building abstractions of light and color and reflections in front of the peninsula. (In the end I never did cross that ridge or go to the other side 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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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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Peninsula, First LIght

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Peninsula, First LIght
The first morning light strikes a tree on a rocky peninsula reflected in the still water of an alpine Sierra Nevada lake.

Peninsula, First LIght. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The first morning light strikes a tree on a rocky peninsula reflected in the still water of an alpine Sierra Nevada lake.

Our group’s method is generally to pack in to a base camp location, and to then remain in that single location for a week or so. Many years ago, when my primary orientation was that of a backpacker, I recall being almost terrified of staying in one spot so long — I imagined that I would be bored. But the opposite turns out the be the case. I gradually push my boundaries out from the camp, learning the variables of light and conditions, and get to the know the area much more intimately. I may initially visit a spot in light that is just “OK,” but then make plans to return when it is likely to be perfect. (And when I blow it I can come back and try again!)

This lake was only a ten or fifteen minute walk away from our camp. I had visited it some years back on a pack trip, but only briefly. This time I was able to wander up there quite a few times, in both morning and evening hours. On my first visit of this trip I missed the timing on the light, arriving just after interesting light had left some picturesque snags. But on the visit when I made this photograph everything worked out just right. I arrived very early before the sunlight had made it down to lake level, and I spent time photographing in this quiet light. Then I decided to move to a feature that I had scouted on the previous visit, and that also provided the light I was looking for. Finishing that, I decided to climb a higher ridge and traverse around the side of the lake, but as I did so I looked back and saw this scene illuminated by the reflected glow of rocks that were now in sunlight. I stopped and made a series of photographs of this little peninsula, the dark and reflective lake surface, and the jumbled rocks along the shoreline.

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.

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Clouds Above The Pacific

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Clouds Over The Pacific
Clouds cast shadows on the Pacific Ocean, as seen from the mountains of Redwood National Park

Clouds Above The Pacific. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds cast shadows on the Pacific Ocean, as seen from the mountains of Redwood National Park.

While this obviously doesn’t look like the typical Redwood National and State Parks photograph… that is, indeed, where it comes from. We spent a week in the coastal areas of Northern California in early June, mostly in and around these parks and mostly looking for photographs of the redwood forests and the rhododendron bloom. We had headed up one road to a popular grove where we thought we might fine the flowers in bloom among the trees, but this road also leads to other interesting places, including some open, ridge top “prairie” lands and other locations providing distant views that are quite different from what you find inside the forest.

This photograph is an illustration of something that often surprises folks when they consider landscape, namely that a lot of it does not come from careful planning and slow, methodical work, but rather by being in the right place at the right moment and being ready to respond quickly to rapidly changing conditions. When we went up this road and even when we pulled over at this spot, I would be lying if I claimed that I pre-visualized this subject or this scene. But once I saw it — big, back-lit clouds floating past and casting shadows on the reflective surface of the sea beyond the undulating, tree-covered foreground ridge — I worked quickly to make a few photographs as the scene evolved. And did it evolved quickly! Only moments later these clouds had almost entirely dissipated.

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.